Quantum sensing for developing quantitative microstructure MRI

ANALIA ZWICK

Seminario; CIMEC Trento University; 2022

CIMEC Trento University

Quantum sensing for developing quantitative microstructure MRIAnalia ZwickCentro Atomico Bariloche & Instituto Balseiro, CNEA, CONICET, Bariloche, ArgentinaQuantum technologies will have a disruptive impact in industries and everyday life. Specific properties of quantum systems are exploited to improve the performance of numerous applications and devices that require the transmission, processing and/or monitoring of quantum information. Technologies as quantum sensors will have applications ranging from thermometry to diagnostic imaging with sub-micrometer resolutions [1-5]. The current spatial resolution of non-invasive in-vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is limited to a scale of millimeters in conventional imaging modalities. However, relevant tissue microstructure details and processes linked to disease occur at molecular and microstructural scales governed by the laws of quantum physics. I this talk, I will present how to use nuclear spins of molecules intrinsic to biological systems (e.g. water protons) as quantum sensors of their environment and control them with magnetic resonance techniques to characterize quantitatively the underlying microstructure efficiently in time and precision [1,4-7]. We exploit fundamental concepts of quantum mechanics developed within the area of quantum information sciences, as quantum-control and -information theory tools to non-invasively quantify deep tissue-microstructure parameters such as cell-sizes or axon diameters that are about 100 times smaller than the actual imaging resolution [4-7]. References:[1] A. Zwick, G. A. Álvarez, G. Kurizki, Phys. Rev. Applied 5, 014007 (2016).[2] V. Mukherjee, A. Zwick, A. Ghosh, X. Chen, Commun. Phys. 2, 162 (2019).[3] M. Kuffer, A. Zwick and G. A. Álvarez. PRX Quantum 3, 020321 (2022).[4] A. Zwick, D. Suter, G. Kurizki, G. A. Álvarez, Phys. Rev. Applied 14, 024088 (2020).[5] M. Capiglioni, A. Zwick, P. Jiménez, G. A. Álvarez, Proc. Intl. Soc. Mag. Reson. Med. 29, 2036 (2021).[6] M. Giménez, P. Jiménez, L. Pedraza, D. Betancourth, A. Zwick, and G. A. Álvarez, Proc. Intl. Soc. Mag. Reson. Med. 29, 3418 (2021).[7] M. Capiglioni, A. Zwick, P. Jiménez, G. A. Álvarez, Phys. Rev. Applied 15, 014045 (2021).