Super-Resolution Quantum Imaging at the Heisenberg Limit

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a quantum imaging technique that surpasses classical resolution limits using entangled photons and optical centroid measurement, achieving a twofold resolution enhancement with a single-shot, scan-free approach.

Contribution

The work formulates the theory of optical centroid measurement within an imaging framework and experimentally demonstrates a twofold resolution enhancement using entangled photon pairs.

Findings

Resolution enhancement by a factor of two achieved.

Single-shot imaging without scanning or iteration demonstrated.

Implementation with a novel integrated time-resolving detector array.

Abstract

Quantum imaging exploits the spatial correlations between photons to image object features with a higher resolution than a corresponding classical light source could achieve. Using a quantum correlated $N$-photon state, the method of optical centroid measurement (OCM) was shown to exhibit a resolution enhancement by improving the classical Rayleigh limit by a factor of $1/N$. In this work, the theory of OCM is formulated within the framework of an imaging formalism and is implemented in an exemplary experiment by means of a conventional entangled photon pair source. The expected resolution enhancement of a factor of two is demonstrated. The here presented experiment allows for single-shot operation without scanning or iteration to reproduce the object in the image plane. Thereby, photon detection is performed with a newly developed integrated time-resolving detector array. Multi-photon interference effects responsible for the observed resolution enhancement are discussed and possible alternative implementation possibilities for higher photon number are proposed.