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arXiv:1406.3251 · Physical Review Letters

Beating the Abbe Diffraction Limit in Confocal Microscopy via Nonclassical Photon Statistics

D. Gatto Monticone, Konstantin G. Katamadze, P. Traina, Ekaterina V. Moreva, J. Forneris, Ivano Ruo Berchera, P. Olivero, Ivo Pietro Degiovanni, G. Brida, Marco Genovese

Published Sep 30, 2014• 142 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate quantum enhanced resolution in confocal fluorescence microscopy exploiting the nonclassical photon statistics of single nitrogen-vacancy color centers in diamond. By developing a general model of superresolution based on the direct sampling of the kth-order autocorrelation function of the photoluminescence signal, we show the possibility to resolve, in principle, arbitrarily close emitting centers.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.113.143602

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We experimentally demonstrate quantum enhanced resolution in confocal fluorescence microscopy exploiting the nonclassical photon statistics of single nitrogen-vacancy color centers in diamond. By developing a general model of superresolution based on the direct sampling of the kth-order autocorrelation function of the photoluminescence signal, we show the possibility to resolve, in principle, arbitrarily close emitting centers.
Properties of quantum light represent a tool for overcoming limits of classical optics. Several experiments have demonstrated this advantage ranging from quantum enhanced imaging to quantum illumination. In this work, experimental demonstration of quantum-enhanced resolution in confocal fluorescence microscopy will be presented. This is achieved by exploiting the non-classical photon statistics of fluorescence emission of single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers in diamond. By developing a general model of super-resolution based on the direct sampling of the kth-order autocorrelation function of the photoluminescence signal, we show the possibility to resolve, in principle, arbitrarily close emitting centers. Finally, possible applications of NV-based fluorescent nanodiamonds in biosensing and future developments will be presented.
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In this work we experimentally demonstrate a recently proposed criterion addressed to detect nonclassical behavior in the fluorescence emission of ensembles of single-photon emitters. In particular, we apply the method to study clusters of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond characterized with single-photon-sensitive confocal microscopy. Theoretical considerations on the behavior of the parameter at any arbitrary order in the presence of Poissonian noise are presented and, finally, the opportunity of detecting manifold coincidences is discussed.
The photoluminescence of a single nickel–nitrogen NE8 color center in a diamond nanocrystal is investigated at room temperature under pulsed excitation by scanning confocal optical microscopy. Photon arrival times are analyzed in terms of the temporal intensity correlation function. Antibunching at short times and bunching behavior for longer times is observed, associated with sub- and super-Poissonian statistics, respectively. The behavior is interpreted by a ‘on–off’ state model, and transition rates between these two states are inferred from intensity correlation measurements realized at different excitation powers. NE8 color center photoluminescence quantum yield is evaluated to be 65%, a value higher than achieved for a nitrogen-vacancy color center, which is, up to now, the most practical single emitter to build a reliable single-photon source at room temperature.
A quantum measurement method based on the quantum nature of antibunching photon emission has been developed to detect single particles without the restriction of the diffraction limit. By simultaneously counting the single-photon and two-photon signals with fluorescence microscopy, the images of nearby nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond at a distance of 8.5±2.4 nm have been successfully reconstructed. Also their axes information was optically obtained. This quantum statistical imaging technique, with a simple experimental setup, can also be easily generalized in the measuring and distinguishing of other physical properties with any overlapping, which shows high potential in future image and study of coupled quantum systems for quantum information techniques.
Diamond nanocrystals containing highly photoluminescent color centers are attractive, nonclassical, and near-field light sources. For near-field applications, the size of the nanocrystal is crucial, since it defines the optical resolution. Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers are efficiently created by proton irradiation and annealing of a nanodiamond powder. Using near-field microscopy and photon statistics measurements, we show that nanodiamonds with sizes down to 25 nm can hold a single NV color center with bright and stable photoluminescence.