47 innovations from Bar-Ilan University, available for licensing, co-investment, or spin-out through BIRAD.
Peer Avraham
The discovery describes an innovative source of broad-band, highly-coherent quantum light and high-efficiency photon-pair generation with low pump power. Additionally, a novel method for self-measurement of the quantum coherence is described - the source itself can be used to measure its own performance. The source is based on a nonlinear crystal with polished and coated end facets to create a monolithic broad-band Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO). Its advantages over common sources of nonlinear crystals in single-pass include: 1. A monolithic OPO provides ideal coherence quality due to minimizing internal losses to a minimum. 2. The required pump power for a given photon flux is low. The threshold for lasing in such a source can be low (less than 5 watts, sometimes down to hundreds of milliwatts, depending on design). 3. Integral dispersion compensation in the crystal mirrors ensures a maximal bandwidth of tens of nanometers and above, generating many pairs of squeezed photons and allowing for a very high flux of entangled photons - up to terahertz pairs per second, which is a significant advantage for quantum communication applications in wavelength-division multiplexing. 4. Mode spacing convenient for telecom (around 10 GHz) in the telecommunication range (1550 nanometers) allows for the construction of separate channels, which is crucial for communication applications. 5. The monolithic design of the OPO ensures passive stability, which facilitates the feedback loop for stabilizing the pump laser to the resonator frequency. Moreover, the concentric design of the resonator ensures stability and resistance to spatial misalignments. Furthermore, the discovery includes a method for self-measurement of the generated coherence using parametric homodyne detection within the crystal itself. Specifically, by operating the monolithic source in a ring resonator configuration, the source can be used in one direction (with the clock) to generate quantum light, and in the opposite direction for measurement, enabling wide-bandwidth homodyne-based measurement, as described in the accompanying documents. Together, the source and measurement method provide a foundation for various applications of quantum technology, such as secure quantum communication (QKD) and wide-bandwidth quantum sensing.
Danielli Amos
Previously, Dr. Danielli introduced a novel technology—termed magnetic modulation biosensing (MMB)—that can rapidly detect very low concentrations of biomarkers. In the MMB system, two electromagnets are used to generate an alternating magnetic field gradients. Using these magnetic field gradients, magnetic beads with attached fluorescently labeled target molecules are aggregated and then manipulated back and forth, in and out of a fixed laser beam, generating a flashing signal, which is distinguished from the constant background noise. While the MMB system provides very high sensitivity, the electromagnets are relatively bulky and their magnetic forces are orthogonal to the gravity force. Hence, the time requires to aggregate the beads and acquire the data is long (~130 sec), which hinders the use of the MMB setup in high throughput applications. Here, we introduce a small footprint and high-throughput OMB platform. To aggregate and immobilize the magnetic beads to one spot, instead of using two electromagnets, we positioned a single cylindrical permanent magnet with a sharp tip under the sample holder. The elimination of the two relatively large electromagnets, significantly reduces the bulk, footprint, and power consumption of the platform. The use of a small permanent magnet to aggregate the magnetic beads to a small area was already reported. However, in the previous report, the small permanent magnet was positioned orthogonal to the gravity force, and therefore the aggregation time remained relatively long. In addition, the small permanent magnet was never used in combination with the preferential modulation of the laser beam, and therefore to achieve high sensitivity, multiple washing and separation steps were required. Here, the magnetic force generated by the small permanent magnet is aligned with the gravity force, significantly shortening the aggregation time of the magnetic beads from ~120 seconds to ~6 seconds. In addition, to eliminate the need for washing and separation steps, we manipulated the laser beam relative to the fixed magnetic beads. To increase the throughput of the system, we incorporated an automatic motorized linear stage that holds a 96-well plate. Shortening the aggregation, acquisition, and well to well transition times enabled us to read a 96-well plate within less than 10 minutes.
Zalevsky Zeev
The feasibility analysis for the development and the integration of a Near-field Scanning Optical Microscope (NSOM) tip-photodetector operating in the visible domain of wavelengths to an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) cantilever has been simulated, processed and measured. The new tip-photodetector consists in a Platinum-Silicon truncated conical photodetector, sharing a subwavelength aperture and processed using advanced nanotechnology tools on a commercial silicon cantilever. Such a combined device enables a dual-mode usage of both AFM and NSOM measurements, when collecting the reflected light, directly from the scanned surface while having a more efficient light collection process. In addition to its quite simple fabrication process, it is demonstrated that the AFM tip, on which the photodetector is processed, is still operational, i.e. the AFM imaging capability is not altered by the process. The AFM-NSOM capability of the processed tip is presented, and obtained results show a significant improvement in surface characterization accuracy and efficiency.
Shor Joseph
Laser Fault Injection (LFI) and Voltage Probing (LVP) sensors are crucial components in hardware security, designed to detect malicious hacking attempts. Prior-art sensors required a large voltage signal triggered by the laser (> 400mV). In this work, an analog sensor is suggested which has a programmable sensitivity from 30mV up to 200mV. An inverter based offset comparator is utilized to achieve an accurate tuning sensitivity so that attacks can be detected well before they trigger faults or reveal secret information.
Fischer Bilha
The detection of subcellular domains in cells can be obtained by specific fluorescent markers. Here we report the use of styryl quinolinium dyes that selectively stain ribosomal RNA (rRNA) in nucleoli and in the cytoplasm of mammalian cells. Specifically, we synthesized a series of 1-methyl-4-(substituted) styryl-quinolinium derivatives, 12a–l. We developed highly efficient microwave-assisted synthesis which prevents the formation of side products, leading to the products in yields greater than 90%. Compounds 12c-f and 12i in various solvents exhibited maximum absorbance at 500–660 nm, molar extinction coefficient of 25400–49000 M
Salomon Adi
Nanopatterned attachment for nanometric optical standardization
Lior Klein
A method, a non-transitory computer readable medium and a system for compensating for an electromagnetic interference induced deviation of an electron beam. The method may include obtaining measurement information about a magnetic field within an electron beam tool, the measurement information is generated by at least one planar Hall Effect magnetic sensor that is located within the electron beam tool; wherein the at least one planar Hall Effect magnetic sensor comprises at least one magnetometer integrated with at least one magnetic flux concentrator; estimating the electromagnetic interference induced deviation of the electron beam, the estimating is based on the magnetic field; and setting a trajectory of the electron beam to compensate for the electromagnetic interference induced deviation of the electron beam.
Ozana, Nisan
In some embodiments, the invention relates to a hybrid sticker-based and wearable multimodal contact sensing system incorporating both rolling shutter and global shutter optical sensors, configured to measure blood flow and tissue oxygenation, and further comprising one or more electrodes configured to measure electrical physiological responses. The multimodal sensing system may comprise a plurality of sensors configured for attachment to different anatomical locations, including the forehead, carotid region, chest, and wrist. Optical sensing at the carotid region enables high-frequency measurement of blood flow dynamics, which may be used to assess flow irregularities, turbulence, or indicators associated with vascular obstruction. A sensor positioned on the forehead may be configured to measure cerebral blood flow, while a wrist-worn sensor may be configured to provide peripheral vascular measurements. In combination, measurements from the wrist, chest, carotid, and forehead may be used to estimate physiological transit times and to derive neurovascular and cardiovascular parameters. Electrical sensing provided by the electrodes may be integrated with the optical measurements to enable multimodal physiological monitoring.
Tischler Yaakov Raphael
The invention is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platform physically and optically linked to a remote base station via a flexible, high-bandwidth optical fiber tether. The architecture decouples the heavy, high-cost, and environmentally sensitive components of a spectroscopic system (such as high-power pulsed/tunable laser engines, complex modulation optics, and laboratory-grade spectrographs or gas-phase analysis hardware) from the mobile flight platform. The flexible tether is optimized for advanced optical transport, supporting single-fiber configurations (utilizing co-axial transceiver optics or double-clad fibers to route both excitation and collection paths through a single line) or multi-fiber bundles (separating excitation and collection lines). To eliminate fiber-induced background noise and accommodate ultra-fast pulses, the system incorporates hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs), or alternatively utilizes standard, cost-effective solid silica fibers combined with an on-board micro-optical filtering payload head on the UAV. This payload head incorporates high-performance laser cleanup bandpass filters that actively strip away fiber-induced silica Raman sideband spectral peaks and autofluorescence before the excitation light hits the target, alongside longpass/notch/shortpass edge filters that isolate the target's weak spectroscopic signals from backscattered pump light. The UAV payload head features a dynamically adjustable optical delivery system capable of switching between a tightly focused beam configuration (for high-power density point-and-shoot spectroscopy like spontaneous/resonance Raman or LIBS) and a collimated beam configuration (for wide-area illumination, plume absorption, or thermal-ignition mitigation of sensitive energetics). Additionally, the drone features an extractive sampling configuration containing an enclosed internal gas cell for high-precision Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy (CRDS) or Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS). To operate in intense ambient-light environments (such as bright daylight) without blinding the spectrometer, the system incorporates distributed optical and electronic noise-suppression packages. These include: An excitation/collection package using ultra-fast time-gating to physically slice out daylight; A spectral-modulation package utilizing Shifted Excitation Raman Difference Spectroscopy (SERDS) under both continuous-wave and pulsed regimes to mathematically subtract invariant background light; and A payload-filtering package on the UAV utilizing tunable Fabry-Pérot etalons or narrow-band collection filters to isolate the signal before it propagates down the return line. The system also supports hybrid photo-acoustic and laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) tracking, using phase-locked lock-in demodulation distributed on-board or down-fiber to isolate target signatures from UAV motor and rotor noises.
Cohen Eliahu
A system and apparatus for high-resolution, high-contrast and low-dose imaging using high-photon energy radiation in the hard X-ray and gamma-ray regimes. The system comprises of A) a high-photon energy source configured to provide an input beam; B) a diffuser configured to induce intensity fluctuations that are stronger than the intensity fluctuations originating from the source i) the diffuser is predesigned and fabricated according to a computer generated topographic map; ii) the diffuser is characterized by a high-resolution imaging system; C) motorized stages to scan the diffuser: D) a detector which can be either a low-resolution detector or a single-pixel detector, and E) a processor configured to receive output intensity measurements, to correlate the output intensity measurements with the intensity fluctuations at the position of the object calculated from the knowledge on the diffuser details, and to use the correlated data to reconstruct an image of the object.
Peer Avraham
We present a novel configuration for a mode-locked semiconductor laser oscillator that emits picosecond-to femtosecond range pulses with record pulse energy (0.5nJ demonstrated) and peak power (112W demonstrated) directly out of the oscillator (with no amplifier). To achieve this high power performance, which is about 20 times higher than other published results with similar lasers, we employed a high-current broad-area, spatially multi-mode diode amplifier, placed in an external cavity that enforces oscillation in a single spatial mode. Consequently, the brightness of the beam can be near-ideal (close to M2 = 1). Mode locking is achieved by dividing the large diode chip (edge emitter) into two sections with independent electrical control: one large section for gain and another small section for a saturable absorber. Precise tuning of the reverse voltage on the absorber section allows to tune the saturation level and recovery time of the absorber, providing a convenient knob to optimize the mode-locking performance for various cavity conditions.
Tischler Yaakov Raphael
A compact, modular hybrid super-resolution optical spectrometer applicable to a broad range of optical spectroscopy modalities (e.g., Raman, IR, absorption, and emission), combining coarse dispersive selection with high-finesse interferometric spectral encoding. A diffraction grating provides coarse spectral selection and/or order sorting and may be operated in a stationary mode or with controlled dithering to impose a small periodic spectral shift. A high-finesse optical filter, such as a Fabry–Pérot (F-P) etalon, provides narrowband super-resolution selectivity and is scanned and/or encoded via angle tuning and/or modulation on a precision stage; modulation may be applied to the grating, the etalon, or both. The optical signal is split into two simultaneous channels: a primary measurement channel (e.g., an etalon-transmitted channel) and a radiometric reference channel used for normalization. Synchronous detection (e.g., lock-in demodulation referenced to the applied modulation) extracts the modulated spectral component, yielding a differential and/or derivative-like signal that rejects broadband background (including fluorescence in Raman implementations) and improves robustness to power fluctuations, coupling changes, and system drift. The spectrometer is capable of detecting signals generated by optical excitation or by other means of energizing the sample of interest. In some implementations, the excitation source may be a laser operating in either continuous-wave (CW) mode, delivering a relatively constant level of power to the sample, or in pulsed mode, in which the excitation is delivered as bursts of light. The present spectrometer architecture is also naturally compatible with pulsed excitation and time-gated detection, in that the grating and narrowband optical filter can receive emission generated by pulsed excitation and pass it to a time-gated detector or CCD. Pulsed excitation may be advantageous, for example, for monitoring fast processes and tracking spectral changes as a material evolves over time, and also for temporally discriminating Raman emission from slower fluorescence background. When pulsed excitation and gated detection are combined with dispersion modulation as described herein, an additional level of background suppression may be achieved. As a result, useful suppression levels may in some cases be obtained even with slower pulsed lasers than would otherwise be required. In another implementation, a femtosecond pulsed laser is used, and the pulse is filtered before entering the spectrometer in order to stretch or shape the pulse. Such pulse shaping is achieved using a spatial light modulator (SLM) or a Fabry–Pérot etalon. The etalon is held at a fixed orientation or operated with angular modulation. Passing a broadband femtosecond pulse through the etalon converts it into a series of spectrally narrower pulses. The Raman signal generated by such excitation correspondingly appears as a spectral pulse train. This is advantageous because the spectral pulse train shifts across the CCD as the grating is modulated, while background signals remain relatively stationary. In addition, the overall pulse duration remains much shorter than typical fluorescence lifetimes, such that time-gated detection further helps reject spurious background signals.
