Quantum microscopy based on Hong-Ou-Mandel interference

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel quantum microscopy technique utilizing Hong-Ou-Mandel interference to achieve high-resolution, low-photon imaging of transparent samples without labels, advancing quantum sensing and imaging capabilities.

Contribution

The authors develop a full-field, scan-free quantum imaging method based on HOM interference, capable of reconstructing surface depth profiles with minimal photon flux.

Findings

Achieved micrometre-scale depth imaging with as few as 7 photon pairs per frame.

Demonstrated simultaneous measurement of bunched and anti-bunched photon distributions.

Provided lower-noise, label-free imaging of transparent samples in the low photon regime.

Abstract

Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference, the bunching of indistinguishable photons at a beam splitter, is a staple of quantum optics and lies at the heart of many quantum sensing approaches and recent optical quantum computers. Here, we report a full-field, scan-free, quantum imaging technique that exploits HOM interference to reconstruct the surface depth profile of transparent samples. We demonstrate the ability to retrieve images with micrometre-scale depth features with a photon flux as small as 7 photon pairs per frame. Using a single photon avalanche diode camera we measure both the bunched and anti-bunched photon-pair distributions at the HOM interferometer output which are combined to provide a lower-noise image of the sample. This approach demonstrates the possibility of HOM microscopy as a tool for label-free imaging of transparent samples in the very low photon regime.