Cancellation of atmospheric turbulence effects in entangled two-photon beams

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method using correlation imaging and entangled photon pairs to cancel atmospheric turbulence effects in optical beams without active correction, improving astronomical and communication imaging.

Contribution

It introduces a novel turbulence mitigation technique employing entangled photons and correlation imaging, avoiding the need for adaptive optics or active wavefront correction.

Findings

Turbulence effects can be effectively canceled using entangled photon correlation.

The method requires only linear passive optical elements, not active correction.

The approach enhances the reliability of optical communication and imaging through turbulent atmospheres.

Abstract

Turbulent airflow in the atmosphere and the resulting random fluctuations in its refractive index have long been known as a major cause of image deterioration in astronomical imaging and figures among the obstacles for reliable optical communication when information is encoded in the spatial profile of a laser beam. Here we show that using correlation imaging and a suitably prepared source of photon pairs, the most severe of the disturbances inflicted on the beam by turbulence can be cancelled out. Other than a two-photon light source, only linear passive optical elements are needed and, as opposed to adaptive optics techniques, our scheme does not rely on active wavefront correction.