Mid-infrared single-photon sub-pixel temporal ghost imaging

TL;DR

This paper presents a high-resolution mid-infrared single-photon temporal ghost imaging system that achieves 40 ps temporal precision using sub-pixel shifting, surpassing previous limits and enabling ultrafast MIR waveform reconstruction.

Contribution

The authors introduce a novel MIR single-photon computational TGI system with sub-pixel temporal shifting, decoupling resolution from modulation speed and achieving unprecedented temporal precision.

Findings

Achieved 40 ps temporal resolution in MIR TGI

Demonstrated sub-pixel operation via fractional-bin temporal stepping

Surpassed detector jitter and pattern-rate limits in performance

Abstract

Temporal ghost imaging (TGI) enables ultrafast temporal signal recovery using slow detectors, offering a promising route for high-speed mid-infrared (MIR) detection. However, conventional schemes remain limited in temporal resolution by the modulation bandwidth or pattern timescale, and are mostly confined to structured illumination. Here, we demonstrated a high-resolution MIR single-photon computational TGI system, which integrated nonlinear structured detection with sub-pixel temporal shifting. A pre-programmed near-infrared pump serves as a temporally optical gate to drive sum-frequency generation in a nonlinear crystal. Consequently, MIR waveforms at 3.4 $\mu$m were upconverted, and captured by a room-temperature silicon detector. We realized sub-pixel operation by fractional-bin temporal stepping of the gate and multi-shot fusion via pseudo-inverse reconstruction. The sub-pixel shifting strategy decouples the achievable resolution from modulation speed, enabling 40 ps temporal precision at a driving rate of only 3.125 Gbps. This performance surpasses both detector jitter and pattern-rate limits, while maintaining single-photon sensitivity. The presented paradigm establishes a versatile route for ultrafast MIR waveform reconstruction, opening new opportunities in high-resolution infrared sensing and quantum photonics.