QuSeC-TAQS: Sensing-Intelligence on The Move: Quantum-Enhanced Optical Diagnosis of Crop Diseases

Downy mildew is one of the most threatening diseases to cucurbit crops, and it can be hardly detected at the early stage of infection using classical sensing technologies. The late detection of downy mildew can cause reduced crop yields and excessive fungicide application, thus leading to significant economic and food losses and environment pollution. Quantum sensing, as a revolutionary technology, has demonstrated its ability to surpass the limits of classical sensing, owing to its utilization of nonclassical resources such as entanglement and squeezed light. The project team, comprised of Principal Investigators from diverse disciplines including physics, computer science, optics, biology, and agricultural science, will collaborate to develop quantum sensors tailored for the fast and accurate diagnosis of downy mildew. This project serves the national interest for its advancement of national food safety and promotion of basic and applied scientific research. Moreover, through local outreach activities, this project will benefit local growers at North Carolina, K-12 students, and underrepresented college students. This QuSeC-TAQS team will focus on three synergistic research thrusts: (1) the development of new theories and algorithms, (2) the optimization of the team’s pre-established quantum sensing devices, and (3) the experimental evaluation utilizing the leaf samples infected by downy mildew. Specifically, PIs will develop an entangled photon source that is directed by an acousto-optic beam steering device to leaf samples for fast and wide-angle scanning. A quantum receiver enhanced by adaptive learning system that can optimize the receiver circuit configurations based on real-time measurements will be developed to remedy the problem of high photon losses in the agricultural environment. PIs will also grow cucumber plants, inoculate them with downy mildew spores, and collect leaf samples for in-lab quantum sensing experiments. The anticipated outcome is to shorten the detection window from the state-of-the-art of 4-5 days to a new record of 1-2 days following the downy mildew infection. The scientific thrusts of this team are further complemented with training of a diverse workforce, with priority given to underrepresented students in STEM.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.