Ioachim Pupeza was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant for the project LIVE – Laser-Based Infrared Vibrational Electric-Field Fingerprinting.

The exploration of biological systems, their phenotypes, and evolutionary processes centres on understanding the crucial molecular compositions that mirror these phenomena. However, studying these intricate biological samples requires precise non-destructive probing, a challenge often faced by current technology.

The ERC-funded LIVE project seeks to further develop infrared (IR) spectroscopy, offering significantly improved sensitivity, speed and accuracy. Leveraging femtosecond lasers and nonlinear optics, the project aims to push IR spectroscopy to its fundamental limits. In addition to developing powerful, highly stable sources of waveform-controlled few-cycle IR pulses and the technologies to detect the broadband spectroscopic response of biological samples to those, the project breaks ground toward new applications thereof in biology and medicine. These include in particular high-throughput vibrational fingerprinting of cells of the immune system in flow cytometry and high-resolution, high-sensitivity breath gas monitoring. Thus, LIVE promises direct impact on patients’ health, deeply rooted in basic photonics research.

The project, starting in October 2023 will be hosted for its duration of 5 years by both the Leibniz-IPHT in Jena and the RPTU in Kaiserslautern, harnessing synergies within the Laboratory for Lightwave Metrology.