I3T: Intensity Interferometry Imaging Telescope

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method using intensity interferometry and quantum-optical components to enable Cherenkov telescopes to achieve diffraction-limited optical imaging of celestial sources, overcoming atmospheric turbulence effects.

Contribution

It presents a new approach to transform Cherenkov telescopes into optical imaging devices using aperture synthesis and quantum-inspired photonics, achieving diffraction-limited resolution.

Findings

Achieves diffraction-limited imaging with Cherenkov telescopes

Utilizes pairwise and triple correlation techniques for image reconstruction

Potentially extends high-resolution optical imaging to existing Cherenkov arrays

Abstract

We propose a new approach, based on the Hanbury Brown and Twiss intensity interferometry, to transform a Cherenkov telescope to its equivalent optical telescope. We show that, based on the use of photonics components borrowed from quantum-optical applications, we can recover spatial details of the observed source down to the diffraction limit of the Cherenkov telescope, set by its diameter at the mean wavelength of observation. For this, we propose to apply aperture synthesis techniques from pairwise and triple correlation of sub-pupil intensities, in order to reconstruct the image of a celestial source from its Fourier moduli and phase information, despite atmospheric turbulence. We examine the sensitivity of the method, i.e. limiting magnitude, and its implementation on existing or future high energy arrays of Cherenkov telescopes. We show that despite its poor optical quality compared to extremely large optical telescopes under construction, a Cherenkov telescope can provide diffraction limited imaging of celestial sources, in particular at the visible, down to violet wavelengths.