Quantum imaging

Quantum imaging is a new sub-field of quantum optics that exploits quantum correlations such as quantum entanglement of the electromagnetic field in order to image objects with a resolution or other imaging criteria that is beyond what is possible in classical optics. Examples of quantum imaging are quantum ghost imaging, quantum lithography, imaging with undetected photons, sub-shot-noise imaging, and quantum sensing. Quantum imaging may someday be useful for storing patterns of data in quantum computers and transmitting large amounts of highly secure encrypted information. Quantum mechanics has shown that light has inherent “uncertainties” in its features, manifested as moment-to-moment fluctuations in its properties. Controlling these fluctuations—which represent a sort of “noise”—can improve detection of faint objects, produce better amplified images, and allow workers to more accurately position laser beams. Quantum imaging can be done in different methods. One method uses scattered light from a free-electron laser. This method converts the light to quasi-monochromatic pseudo-thermal light. Another method known as interaction-free imaging is used to locate an object without absorbing photons. One more method of quantum imaging is known as ghost imaging. This process uses a photon pair to define an image. The image is created by correlations between the two photons, the stronger the correlations the greater the resolution. Quantum lithography is a type of quantum imaging that focuses on aspects of photons to surpass the limits of classical lithography. Using entangled light, the effective resolution becomes a factor of N lesser than the Rayleigh limit of . Another study determines that waves created by Raman pulses have narrower peaks and have a width that is four times smaller than the diffraction limit in classical lithography. Quantum lithography has potential applications in communications and computing. Another type of quantum imaging is called quantum metrology, or quantum sensing.

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Pixel super-resolution with spatially entangled photons

Edoardo Charbon, Jiuxuan Zhao

Pixelation is common in quantum imaging systems and limit the image spatial resolution. Here, the authors introduce a pixel super-resolution approach based on measuring the full spatially-resolved joint probability distribution of spatially-entangled photons, and improve pixel resolution by a factor two. Pixelation occurs in many imaging systems and limits the spatial resolution of the acquired images. This effect is notably present in quantum imaging experiments with correlated photons in which the number of pixels used to detect coincidences is often limited by the sensor technology or the acquisition speed. Here, we introduce a pixel super-resolution technique based on measuring the full spatially-resolved joint probability distribution (JPD) of spatially-entangled photons. Without shifting optical elements or using prior information, our technique increases the pixel resolution of the imaging system by a factor two and enables retrieval of spatial information lost due to undersampling. We demonstrate its use in various quantum imaging protocols using photon pairs, including quantum illumination, entanglement-enabled quantum holography, and in a full-field version of N00N-state quantum holography. The JPD pixel super-resolution technique can benefit any full-field imaging system limited by the sensor spatial resolution, including all already established and future photon-correlation-based quantum imaging schemes, bringing these techniques closer to real-world applications.

NATURE PORTFOLIO2022

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Quantum information, communication, and sensing rely on the generation and control of quantum correlations in complementary degrees of freedom. Free electrons coupled to photonics promise novel hybrid quantum technologies, although single-particle correlations and entanglement have yet to be shown. In this work, we demonstrate the preparation of electron-photon pair states using the phase-matched interaction of free electrons with the evanescent vacuum field of a photonic chip-based optical microresonator. Spontaneous inelastic scattering produces intracavity photons coincident with energy-shifted electrons, which we employ for noise-suppressed optical mode imaging. This parametric pair-state preparation will underpin the future development of free-electron quantum optics, providing a route to quantum-enhanced imaging, electron-photon entanglement, and heralded single-electron and Fock-state photon sources.

AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE2022