Lost photon enhances superresolution

Quantum imaging can beat classical resolution limits, imposed by the diffraction of light. In particular, it is known that one can reduce the image blurring and increase the achievable resolution by illuminating an object by entangled light and measuring coincidences of photons. If an n -photon enta...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:npj quantum information 2021-08, Vol.7 (1), p.1-10, Article 125
Main Authors: Mikhalychev, A. B., Novik, P. I., Karuseichyk, I. L., Lyakhov, D. A., Michels, D. L., Mogilevtsev, D. S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/766/400/482
639/766/483/1255
639/766/483/3925
Classical and Quantum Gravitation
Light
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Quantum Computing
Quantum Field Theories
Quantum Information Technology
Quantum Physics
Relativity Theory
Sensors
Spintronics
String Theory
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Summary:Quantum imaging can beat classical resolution limits, imposed by the diffraction of light. In particular, it is known that one can reduce the image blurring and increase the achievable resolution by illuminating an object by entangled light and measuring coincidences of photons. If an n -photon entangled state is used and the n th-order correlation function is measured, the point-spread function (PSF) effectively becomes n times narrower relatively to classical coherent imaging. Quite surprisingly, measuring n -photon correlations is not the best choice if an n -photon entangled state is available. We show that for measuring ( n  − 1)-photon coincidences (thus, ignoring one of the available photons), PSF can be made even narrower. This observation paves a way for a strong conditional resolution enhancement by registering one of the photons outside the imaging area. We analyze the conditions necessary for the resolution increase and propose a practical scheme, suitable for observation and exploitation of the effect.
ISSN:2056-6387
2056-6387
DOI:10.1038/s41534-021-00465-4