Non-degenerate SPDC photon-pair source for UV-A illumination

TL;DR

This paper introduces a non-degenerate SPDC photon-pair source that generates UV-A and infrared light, enabling new quantum sensing applications in the ultraviolet spectrum.

Contribution

The work presents a novel UV-A photon-pair source using a nonlinear crystal for quantum imaging and sensing, expanding the application range of quantum technologies.

Findings

Successful generation of UV-A and infrared photon pairs

Potential for quantum imaging with UV illumination

Implications for biomedical and non-destructive testing

Abstract

We present a frequency-correlated non-degenerate photon-pair source consisting of a second-order nonlinear crystal that generates ultraviolet UV-A and infrared light via spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Quantum imaging and sensing techniques like quantum imaging with undetected light and quantum ghost imaging leverage on wavelength correlations between down-converted photon pairs to decouple sensing and detection wavelengths, thereby exploiting established camera technology within the visible spectrum. Our results open up novel quantum sensing application scenarios in the ultraviolet domain, with potential implications for advancements in biomedical and non-destructive testing fields.