Quantum entanglement

Physics

Chemical reaction

Postselection

Weak measurement

Analytical Chemistry (journal)

Optics

Catalysis

Reaction rate

Pointer (user interface)

Chemistry

Scattering

Photonics

Polarimetry

Computer science

Quantum mechanics

Computer vision

Chromatography

Optoelectronics

Biochemistry

Polarimeter

Quantum

APL Photonics

A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. However, the precise and real-time detection of the reaction rate remains challenging due to its fast and dynamical process. In this paper, the photonic spin Hall effect is proposed to realize the ultrasensitive and real-time detection of the reaction rate of sucrose hydrolysis. By incorporating with quantum weak measurement, the photonic spin-Hall shift acts as the measurement pointer, and the optical rotation in the process of sucrose hydrolysis acts as the postselection state. The high measurement resolution with 1.25 × 10−4 degree is achieved due to the weak-value amplification in quantum weak measurement which outperforms the standard polarimeter. In our scheme, the amplified measurement pointer is real-time monitoring the chemical reaction process. It does not involve any mechanical adjustment of optical elements once the experimental setup is established and thereby realizes a real-time detection of the dynamic chemical reaction.

Ultrasensitive and real-time detection of chemical reaction rate based on the photonic spin Hall effect