Quantum correlation enhanced super-resolution localization microscopy enabled by a fiber bundle camera

TL;DR

This paper introduces a fiber bundle camera with single-photon detectors that enhances super-resolution microscopy by leveraging quantum photon statistics in non-sparse, dynamic scenes.

Contribution

It presents a novel imaging device combining high-efficiency, low-noise single-photon detection with fiber optics to enable quantum correlation-based super-resolution microscopy.

Findings

Achieved super-resolution imaging using quantum photon statistics.

Demonstrated high quantum efficiency and low noise in the fiber bundle detector.

Enabled localization microscopy in non-sparse, non-stationary scenes.

Abstract

Despite advances in low-light level detection, single-photon methods such as photon correlation have rarely been used in the context of imaging. The few demonstrations, for example of sub-diffraction limited imaging utilizing quantum statistics of photons, have remained in the realm of proof-of-principle demonstrations. This is primarily due to a combination of low values of fill factors, quantum efficiencies, frame rates and signal-to-noise characteristic of most available single-photon sensitive imaging detectors. Here we describe an imaging device based on a fiber bundle coupled to single-photon avalanche detectors, which combines a large fill factor, a high quantum efficiency, a low noise and scalable architecture. Our device enables localization based super-resolution microscopy in a non-sparse non-stationary scene, utilizing information on the number of active emitters, as gathered from non-classical photon statistics.