The Fraunhofer Institute for industrial mathematics ITWM and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) have jointly been granted a €1.6 million fund under the framework of the Fraunhofer-Max-Planck cooperation programme, to develop next-generation photonic measurement techniques for vibrational spectroscopy for applications in biology and medicine.

Detecting and identifying diseases at ever higher speed and precision is expected to greatly benefit precision medicine and health monitoring, while reducing costs. However, the molecular complexity of biological samples makes quantitative investigations — especially via marker-free approaches such as vibrational spectroscopy — a major challenge. The new project “iFRS – Interferometry-based field-resolved spectroscopy” tackles this challenge by developing novel techniques based on interferometry and nonlinear optics. The goal is to render the entire physiologically relevant range of molecular concentrations in biological liquids and gases, at sub-ng/ml and sub-ppb range, respectively, accessible to quantitative infrared vibrational spectroscopy. 

By combining the expertise of the two project partners, substantial development will be undertaken to bring femtosecond light sources and interferometric technologies to the next level. The project builds a new bridge between the two participating institutes, as well as between the Laboratory of Lightwave Metrology and Attoworld. The results promise to advance basic research, by pushing coherent IR spectroscopy to the fundamental sensitivity limits set by the quantum nature of light, while also enabling a new generation of infrared spectrometers for health monitoring.

At the Laboratory of Lightwave Metrology, we are looking for motivated scientists to strengthen our team, see open positions.