Solid-State Single-Molecule Sensing with the Electronic Life-Detection Instrument for Enceladus/Europa (ELIE)

Area of Science:

• Astrobiology
• Planetary Science
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Ocean Worlds like Enceladus and Europa show potential habitability.
• Advanced technologies are needed to detect life, both familiar and alien.

Purpose of the Study:

• Propose the Electronic Life-detection Instrument for Enceladus/Europa (ELIE) for life detection.
• Demonstrate single-molecule detection of amino acids and informational polymers.
• Develop novel metrics for assessing molecular complexity and reducing false positives.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a solid-state, single-molecule instrument based on quantum electronic tunneling.
• Demonstrated detection of L-proline at micromolar concentrations.
• Proposed using the HOMO-LUMO gap as a metric for amino acid complexity.

Main Results:

• Achieved single-molecule detection of L-proline in a laboratory setting.
• Proposed a novel method to assess amino acid complexity using quantum properties.
• Assessed ELIE's potential to differentiate abiotic and biotic amino acid distributions.

Conclusions:

• ELIE offers a novel approach to detecting biosignatures, including amino acids and informational polymers.
• The technology has potential applications for future missions to Mars, Enceladus, and Europa.
• ELIE could help distinguish between life as we know it and life as we don't know it.