Olga Minaeva

Boston University | BU

We previously discovered that Aβ accumulates in the supranuclear region of the lens in the eyes of people with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) (Goldstein et al., 2003) and Down Syndrome (DS; (Moncaster et al., 2010) and also in the Tg2576 APP swedish mutation AD mouse model (Moncaster et al., 2022). Aβ interacts with crystallin proteins in the lens to cre...

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have been used widely as an alternative to conventional cigarettes and have become particularly popular among young adults. A growing body of evidence has shown that e-cigarettes are associated with acute lung injury and adverse efects in multiple other organs. Previous studies showed that high emissions of alde...

Background T1-weighted MRI and quantitative longitudinal relaxation rate (R1) mapping have been used to evaluate gadolinium retention in the brain after gadolinium-based contrast agent (GBCA) administration. Whether MRI measures accurately reflect gadolinium regional distribution and concentration in the brain remains unclear. Purpose To compare ga...

Neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) include pathogenic accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides and age-dependent formation of amyloid plaques in the brain. AD-associated Aβ neuropathology begins decades before onset of cognitive symptoms and slowly progresses over the course of the disease. We previously reported discovery of Aβ...

The absence of clinical tools to evaluate individual variation in the pace of aging represents a major impediment to understanding aging and maximizing health throughout life. The lens is an ideal tissue for quantitative assessment of molecular aging in vivo. Long-lived proteins in lens fiber cells are expressed during fetal life, do not undergo tu...

Background: Amyloid plaque, a neuropathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), is composed of neurotoxic amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides and other proteins, including the small heat shock protein αB-crystallin (also known as HSPB5). We investigated the cellular origin of αB-crystallin, its secretion properties and how it may affect formation of neu...

The lens of the eye is composed of crystallin proteins. These proteins have been shown to interact with Aβ in particular in Alzheimer’s disease. Crystallin proteins undergo various post‐translational modifications during aging that disrupt the normal functioning of these proteins resulting in protein aggregation and light scattering. We expand on o...

The absence of clinical tools to evaluate individual variation in the pace of aging represents a major impediment to understanding aging and maximizing health throughout life. The human lens is an ideal tissue for quantitative assessment of molecular aging in vivo. Long-lived proteins in lens fiber cells are expressed during fetal life, do not unde...

Repetitive mild traumatic brain injury in American football players has garnered increasing public attention following reports of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive tauopathy. While the mechanisms underlying repetitive mild traumatic brain injury-induced neurodegeneration are unknown and antemortem diagnostic tests are not available, n...

Although concussion has been a subject of interest for centuries, this condition remains poorly understood. The mechanistic underpinnings and accepted definition of concussion remain elusive. To make sense of these issues, this article presents a brief history of concussion studies, detailing the evolution of motivations and experimental conclusion...

The mechanisms underpinning concussion, traumatic brain injury, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and the relationships between these disorders, are poorly understood. We examined post-mortem brains from teenage athletes in the acute-subacute period after mild closed-head impact injury and found astrocytosis, myelinated axonopathy, microvascula...

Head trauma is a potent stimulus for brain inflammation. We demonstrate that in vivo retinal imaging may be useful for noninvasive diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of neuroinflammation following traumatic brain injury.

Animal models of concussion, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) are widely available and routinely deployed in laboratories around the world. Effective animal modeling requires careful consideration of four basic principles. First, animal model use must be guided by clarity of definitions regarding the human di...

We present a new approach to engineering broadband sources of entangled photon pairs for quantum interferometry. The source is based on quasi-phase-matched spontaneous parametric down conversion in a titanium diffused periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide with a strongly-chirped poling period. The proposed non-standard asymmetric poling miti...

We propose a scheme for generating frequency-correlated two-photon states via Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion in periodically poled nonlinear integrated-optic waveguides. A method to differentiate such states from traditional frequency anti-correlated photon-pair sources is discussed.

Quasi-elastic light scattering analysis of long-lived lens proteins provides a practical, noninvasive technique and quantitative biomarker for objective, point-of-care assessment of molecular aging in a human body.

In Down syndrome there is increased deposition of Alzheimer's disease-related Amyloid-β protein in the brain and lens. Here we use quasi-elastic light scattering to noninvasively detect Alzheimer's disease lens pathology in subjects with Down syndrome.

Post-translational modifications of lens proteins during aging can be monitored with quasi-elastic light scattering. Here, we show the ability of the technique to detect these changes both in vitro and in vivo.

Highly nonlinear solid-state systems are discussed as solutions for the generation of phase entangled coherent states. Such states are necessary for many quantum optical information applications including a newly proposed quantum key distribution protocol.

We present a novel approach that allows object identification using fewer resources than in conventional pixel-by-pixel imaging by exploiting the enhanced sensitivity of correlated orbital angular momentum states to multiple azimuthal Fourier coefficients.

A major contributions of Wigner’s work was the introduction of group theory to study both the dynamics and the classification of states in quantum mechanics. The use of rotational symmetry to study the properties of angular momentum eigenstates is particularly associated with him. Following along a similar path, it is shown here that advances in th...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the signature injury of the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and a leading cause of death and disability in the civilian population. We recently reported neuropathological evidence linking TBI from blast exposure (Goldstein, et al., 2012) or repetitive head impact injury (McKee, et al., 2009, 2010, 2013) wi...

Object recognition exploiting the two-dimensional orbital angular momentum joint spectrum using pairs of correlated photons is presented. The detection of rotational symmetries demonstrates a sparse sensing technique relevant to remote sensing and biological applications.

We demonstrate a large grid of individually addressable superconducting single photon detectors on a single chip. Each detector element is fully integrated into an independent waveguide circuit with custom functionality at telecom wavelengths. High device density is achieved by fabricating the nanowire detectors in traveling wave geometry directly...

Ultrafast, high-efficiency single-photon detectors are among the most sought-after elements in modern quantum optics and quantum communication. However, imperfect modal matching and finite photon absorption rates have usually limited their maximum attainable detection efficiency. Here we demonstrate superconducting nanowire detectors atop nanophoto...

Supplementary Figures S1-S10, Supplementary Methods and Supplementary References

A quantum interferometric measurement of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) of commercial telecommunication wavelength selective switch (WSS) demonstrates advantages of quantum optical technology over conventional measurement.

Using spontaneous parametric down conversion as a source of entangled photon pairs, correlations are measured between the orbital angular momentum (OAM) in a target beam (which contains an unknown object) and that in an empty reference beam. Unlike previous studies, the effects of the object on off-diagonal elements of the OAM correlation matrix ar...

A broadband source of polarization entangled photons based on type-II spontaneous parametric down conversion from a chirped PPKTP crystal is presented. With numerical simulation and experimental evaluation, we report a source of broadband polarization entangled states with a bandwidth of approximately 125 nm for use in quantum interferometry. The t...

Blast exposure is associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI), neuropsychiatric symptoms, and long-term cognitive disability. We examined a case series of postmortem brains from U.S. military veterans exposed to blast and/or concussive injury. We found evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a tau protein-linked neurodegenerative disea...

A quantum interferometric technique for measuring polarization mode dispersion (PMD) of commercial telecommunication wavelength selective switch (WSS) demonstrates advantages of quantum optical technology over conventional measurement.

A polarization mode dispersion (PMD) measurement of a commercial telecommunication wavelength selective switch (WSS) using a quantum interferometric technique with polarization-entangled states is presented. Polarization-entangled photons with a broad spectral width covering the telecom band are produced using a chirped periodically poled nonlinear...

We discuss the advantages and limitations of single-photon optical time-domain reflectometry with superconducting single-photon detectors. The higher two-point resolution can be achieved due to superior timing performance of SSPDs in comparison with InGaAs APDs.

The use of quantum correlations between photons to separate measure even- and odd-order components of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) and chromatic dispersion in discrete optical elements is investigated. Two types of apparatus are discussed which use coincidence counting of entangled photon pairs to allow sub-femtosecond resolution for measurem...

We demonstrate a technique allowing for simultaneous even and odd-order spectral dispersion cancellation in a single experiment. We discuss advantages quantum interference offers for ultra-precise measurement in telecommunication.

A new quantum interferometric technique for measuring polarization mode dispersion with a higher precision than classical techniques is introduced. This approach simultaneously allows extracting chromatic and polarization mode dispersion parameters from a single optical setup.

The use of quantum correlations between photons to measure polarization mode dispersion (PMD) and chromatic dispersion is investigated. Two types of apparatus are discussed which use coincidence counting of entangled photon pairs to allow sub-femtosecond resolution for measurement of both PMD and chromatic dispersion, as well as separation of even-...

Ultrafast, high quantum efficiency single photon detectors are among the most sought-after elements in modern quantum optics and quantum communication. Close-to-unity photon detection efficiency is essential for scalable measurement-based quantum computation, quantum key distribution, and loophole-free Bell experiments. However, imperfect modal mat...

The state-of-the-art of the NbN nanowire superconducting single-photon detector technology (SSPD) is presented. The SSPDs exhibit excellent performance at 2 K temperature: 30% quantum efficiency from visible to infrared, negligible dark count rate, single-photon sensitivity up to 5.6 µm. The recent achievements in the development of GHz counting ra...

Coherence-domain imaging systems can be operated in a single-photon-counting mode, offering low detector noise; this in turn leads to increased sensitivity for weak light sources and weakly reflecting samples. We have demonstrated that excellent axial resolution can be obtained in a photon-counting coherence-domain imaging (CDI) system that uses li...

We describe our theoretical and experimental results demonstrating two new techniques for manipulating dispersion in quantum interferometry using spectral and spatial properties of optical entanglement. First, we present a novel interferometer design allowing to demonstrate a new effect of simultaneous even- and odd-order spectral dispersion cancel...

A review of development and characterization of the nanostructures consisting of several meander sections, all connected in parallel was presented. Such geometry leads to a significant decrease of the kinetic inductance, without a decrease of the SSPD active area. A new type of SSPDs possess the QE of large-active- area devices, but, simultaneously...

We describe a novel effect involving odd-order dispersion cancellation. We demonstrate that odd- and even-order dispersion cancellation may be obtained in different regions of a single quantum interferogram using frequency-anticorrelated entangled photons and a new type of quantum interferometer. This offers new opportunities for quantum communicat...

We consider the use of single-photon counting detectors in coherence-domain imaging. Detectors operated in this mode exhibit reduced noise, which leads to increased sensitivity for weak light sources and weakly reflecting samples. In particular, we experimentally demonstrate the possibility of using superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs) f...

We present a novel concept of photon number resolving detector based on 120-nm-wide superconducting stripes made of 4-nm-thick NbN film and connected in parallel (PNR-SSPD). The detector consisting of 5 strips demonstrate a capability to resolve up to 4 photons absorbed simultaneously with the single-photon quantum efficiency of 2.5% and negligibly...

We demonstrate simultaneous even- and odd-order spectral dispersion cancellation in a single experiment. We also present a spatial counterpart of the dispersion cancellation effect that leads to the removal of even-order aberrations in quantum interference.

We generate ultrabroadband biphotons via the process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a quasi-phase-matched nonlinear grating that has a linearly chirped poling period. Using these biphotons in conjunction with superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs), we measure the narrowest Hong-Ou-Mandel dip to date in a two-photon interferom...

We present a new photon number resolving detector (PNR), the Parallel Nanowire Detector (PND), which uses spatial multiplexing on a subwavelength scale to provide a single electrical output proportional to the photon number. The basic structure of the PND is the parallel connection of several NbN superconducting nanowires (100 nm-wide, few nm-thick...

We have measured the ultrafast reset time of NbN superconducting single photon detectors (SSPDs) based on a design consisting of N parallel superconducting stripes. Compared to a standard SSPD of identical active area, the parallel SSPD displays a similar detection efficiency and a kinetic inductance, which is divided by N² . For N=12 ,...

Optical-to-electrical conversion, which is the basis of the operation of optical detectors, can be linear or nonlinear. When high sensitivities are needed, single-photon detectors are used, which operate in a strongly nonlinear mode, their response being independent of the number of detected photons. However, photon-number-resolving detectors are n...