Selective Addressing of Versatile Nanodiamonds via Physically-Enabled Classifier in Complex Biosystems.

Area of Science:

• Quantum optics
• Nanotechnology
• Biophysics

Background:

• Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers are promising for nanoscale biosensing and bioimaging.
• Biological applications are hindered by light scattering and autofluorescence, creating background noise.
• Existing methods struggle to isolate NV signals in complex biological environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an all-optical modulated imaging method for direct NV fluorescence access.
• To effectively filter background noise in cellular and tissue imaging.
• To enable high-fidelity nanoscale sensing and imaging in challenging biological settings.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an all-optical modulated imaging approach with a physically enabled classifier.
• NV fluorescence was optically modulated to create sinusoid-like variations for signal classification.
• Validated the method in complex biological scenarios including cells and organisms.

Main Results:

• Achieved significant signal-to-background ratio enhancement (1.92 to 60.39 dB) for nanodiamonds in neural protein imaging.
• Demonstrated a 4-fold contrast improvement in optically detected magnetic resonance within stained cells.
• Successfully filtered background noise in diverse biological samples, including live cells and organisms.

Conclusions:

• The developed method provides a generic, explainable, and robust solution for NV-based imaging and sensing.
• Enables high-fidelity imaging and sensing in noise-laden biological environments.
• Overcomes limitations of scattering and autofluorescence for advanced bioapplications.