Technique - (2) Photon upconversion via triplet-triplet annihilation

Type: Experimental

Description: Sensitizer/annihilator nanocrystal and molecular systems that upconvert low-energy photons for sensing and energy harvesting.

Department(s)/lab(s): Electrical Engineering | Congreve Lab @ Stanford
Summary:

Congreve engineers excitonic materials -- perovskite nanocrystals and molecular sensitizer/annihilator pairs -- for photon upconversion, light emission, and sensing applications, with interests extending toward quantum-technology-relevant nanoscale light-matter devices. [Borderline match: materials/energy focus with a sensing angle rather than a core quantum-sensing program; kept for review.]

Department(s)/lab(s): Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering | Goldys Nanoscale Biophotonics Group @ UNSW
Summary:

Goldys was Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics and now leads a nanoscale biophotonics group in Biomedical Engineering. The programme is about extracting diagnostic information from very weak optical signals inside cells and tissue: luminescent and upconverting nanoparticle probes with long lifetimes that allow time-gated, background-free detection; hyperspectral unmixing of native cellular autofluorescence (NADH, FAD, porphyrins) as a completely label-free readout of cell state, which she has pushed toward clinical use in reproductive medicine and cancer; and nanoparticle-mediated therapy. Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work — DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity — time-gated luminescence and NV relaxometry are two solutions to the same problem — how to read a faint, specific signal out of an autofluorescent, optically hostile biological background — and her clinical translation experience is exactly the missing capability in most quantum-biosensing groups. Preferred attribute present: advanced/label-based imaging with a genuine human-application pathway.