Quantum diagnosis of cancer with heralded single photons

Abstract

The unique properties of single quantum photons have more potential for many applications in quantum metrology. Here, by using state-of-the-art techniques, the precision of the attenuation measurement of light by propagating in the tissue is enhanced and a method to diagnose cancer in the tissue is proposed. The measurement of light with precision beyond the shot-noise limit and near the ultimate quantum limit can be attained using the heralded single photons (HSPs) generated by the spontaneous parametric down-conversion process. The interaction of HSP with normal and malignant breast tissues announces the presence of its partner. Theoretically and experimentally, a quantum approach to diagnosing cancer by comparing the measured attenuation coefficient of the normal and malignant tissues is demonstrated using the HSPs. We experimentally show that it is possible to improve the attenuation uncertainty due to the scattering of HSPs from the bio-sample to distinguish the malignant tissue from the normal tissue. Here, we use a narrow-band filter to remove the Raman scattering effect and consequently increase the attenuation uncertainty. This method is one of the applications of quantum metrology for precision enhancement which can be used in the histology of unstained tissues and tumor margin detection.