Coherent Two-Photon LIDAR with Incoherent Light

Coherent light detection and ranging (LIDAR) offers exceptional sensitivity and precision in measuring the distance of remote objects by employing first-order interference. However, the ranging capability of coherent LIDAR is principally constrained by the coherence time of the light source determin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2023-12, Vol.131 (22), p.223602-223602, Article 223602
Main Authors: Lee, Chung-Hyun, Kim, Yosep, Im, Dong-Gil, Kim, U-Shin, Tamma, Vincenzo, Kim, Yoon-Ho
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Coherent light detection and ranging (LIDAR) offers exceptional sensitivity and precision in measuring the distance of remote objects by employing first-order interference. However, the ranging capability of coherent LIDAR is principally constrained by the coherence time of the light source determined by the spectral bandwidth. Here, we introduce coherent two-photon LIDAR, which eliminates the range limitation of coherent LIDAR due to the coherence time. Our scheme capitalizes on the counterintuitive phenomenon of two-photon interference of thermal light, in which the second-order interference fringe remains impervious to the short coherence time of the light source determined by the spectral bandwidth. By combining this feature with transverse two-photon interference of thermal light, we demonstrate distance ranging beyond the coherence time without relying on time-domain interference fringes. Moreover, we show that our coherent two-photon LIDAR scheme is robust to turbulence and ambient noise. This work opens up novel applications of two-photon correlation in classical light.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.223602