Quantum tech that sees through
with 100% safe light
Safe X-ray functionality for eye diagnostics using quantum detectors
X-rays is one of the defining inventions of medicine, but has general limitations in the frequency of use, and pose a non-negligible health risk to healthcare professionals.
The reason one cannot use ordinary light to get X-ray is that such light is scattered many times when passing through tissue. The resulting image is diffuse, as from a flashlight shining behind a hand. However, some photons do move straight through tissue like X-rays. Those are also the photons that move fastest and arrive first at a detector.
SPQR core technology detects single photons with ultra-high time resolution, which allows to separate out photons that move on different paths through tissue. We use proprietary software to synthesize X-ray-like images from such data.
SPQR core technologies has a wide range of applications in medical imaging as well as industrial radiology, everywhere where non-destructive imaging capabilities are needed and negative side effects of X-rays are undesirable. In particular, we have identified ophthalmology as promising area and we developing our first product for this use case.
SPQR AB has a grant from Swedish research agency VINNOVA to develop a prototype for diagnostics in the eye, and of the muscles that control the eye. The company was founded in 2022 in Stockholm.
The co-founders of SPQR AB are E. Aurell & V. Zwiller, professors of Physics at KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. Together we have close to 50 years of work experience in research and development, inside and outside academia. We have held positions in Finland, China, France and The Netherlands. The founder group is complemented by one young physicist (Staffas) and one business student (Sutton).
KTH — Kungliga Tekniska högskolan (Royal Institute of Technology)
Erik Aurell
Founder at SPQR,
Professor at KTH
Val Zwiller
Founder at SPQR,
Professor at KTH
Theodor Staffas
Founder at SPQR,
PhD at KTH
Nicolas Innocenti
Advisor at SPQR,
data scientist, AI engineer, bioinformatician
Alex Jonsson
Advisor at SPQR,
researcher at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden