Intensity interferometry for holography with quantum and classical light

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel holography technique using intensity interferometry with classical and quantum light, enabling wavefront reconstruction without phase stability, suitable for remote or self-luminous objects.

Contribution

It applies intensity interferometry to holography, allowing phase retrieval without phase stability and demonstrating compatibility with quantum light, including single photons.

Findings

Successfully reconstructed wavefronts using intensity correlations.

Demonstrated holography with quantum and classical light sources.

Enabled remote object imaging without phase stabilization.

Abstract

As first demonstrated by Hanbury Brown and Twiss, it is possible to observe interference between independent light sources by measuring correlations in their intensities rather than their amplitudes. In this work, we apply this concept of intensity interferometry to holography. We combine a signal beam with a reference and measure their intensity cross-correlations using a time-tagging single-photon camera. These correlations reveal an interference pattern from which we reconstruct the signal wavefront in both intensity and phase. We demonstrate the principle with classical and quantum light, including a single photon. Since the signal and reference do not need to be phase-stable, this technique can be used to generate holograms of self-luminous or remote objects using a local reference, thus opening the door to new holography applications.