HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – February 21, 2024 – A collaborative project led by Professor Zhiqin Chu, Professor Can Li and Professor Ngai Wong, at the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has achieved a breakthrough in improving the speed and resolution of wide-field quantum sensing, paving the way for new opportunities in scientific research and practical applications.
(From left) Professor Ngai Wong, Professor Can Li, Professor Zhiqin Chu and Zhiyuan Du Image credit: University of Hong Kong
Collaborating with scientists from mainland China and Germany, the team successfully developed a revolutionary quantum sensing technology using a neuromorphic vision sensor, designed to mimic the human vision system. This sensor is capable of encoding spiked fluorescence intensity changes during optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) measurements. The main advantage of this approach is that it results in highly compressed data volumes and reduced latency, making the system more efficient than traditional methods. This breakthrough in quantum sensing offers potential for various applications in areas such as monitoring dynamic processes in biological systems.
The research paper was published in the journal
Advanced science titled “Wide-Field Diamond Quantum Sensing with Neuromorphic Vision Sensors.”
“Researchers around the world have devoted a lot of effort to finding ways to improve the measurement accuracy and spatio-temporal resolution of camera sensors. But a fundamental challenge remains: managing the massive amount of data in the form of image frames that must be transferred from camera sensors for further processing. This data transfer can significantly limit the temporal resolution, which typically does not exceed 100 fps due to the use of frame-based image sensors. What we did was try to overcome the bottleneck,” said Zhiyuan Du, the first author of the paper and a doctoral student in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Du said his professor’s interest in quantum sensing inspired him and other team members to innovate in the field. He is also driven by a passion for the integration of sensing and computing.
“The latest development offers new prospects for high-precision, low-latency wide-field quantum sensing, with possibilities for integration with emerging memory devices to realize smarter quantum sensors,” he added. .
The team’s experience with a commercially available event camera demonstrated a 13-fold improvement in temporal resolution, with comparable accuracy in detecting ODMR resonant frequencies with the state-of-the-art highly image-based approach. specialized. The new technology was successfully deployed to monitor dynamically modulated laser heating of gold nanoparticles deposited on a diamond surface. “It would be difficult to accomplish the same task using existing approaches,” Du said.
Unlike traditional sensors that record light intensity levels, neuromorphic vision sensors process the change in light intensity in “spikes” similar to biological vision systems, leading to improved temporal resolution (≈µs) and dynamic range (>120 dB). This approach is particularly effective in scenarios where image changes are infrequent, such as object tracking and autonomous vehicles, because it eliminates redundant static background signals.
“We anticipate that our successful demonstration of the proposed method will revolutionize wide-field quantum sensing, significantly improving performance at an affordable cost,” said Professor Zhiqin Chu.
“This also brings closer the realization of near-sensor processing with new memory-based electronic synapse devices,” said Professor Can Li.
“The potential of this technology for industrial use should be further explored, for example by studying dynamic changes in currents in materials and identifying defects in microchips,” said Professor Ngai Wong.
Link to document:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202304355
Hashtag: #HKU
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