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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Readout of binary holographic data without direct photon-grating interactions

Ju-Seog Jang, Dong-Hak Shin

Published Nov 22, 1999• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We explain that it is possible in principle to detect a change in light transmittance and phase shift of transparent materials without exposing even a single photon on them. Based on such interaction-free measurement, novel rewritable optical memories can be constructed with a photo-sensitive medium. In this case, even if the stored data are vulnerable to light, they can be read out without (or, at least a reduced) data impairment, because there is no (or, at least a reduced) interaction between the photon and the medium. We also discuss the effect of two system imperfections, the system loss and the low quantum efficiency of photon detectors, when such memories are to be implemented.

DOI
10.1117/12.370237

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We explain that it is possible in principle to detect a change in light transmittance and phase shift of transparent materials without exposing even a single photon on them. Based on such interaction-free measurement, novel rewritable optical memories can be constructed with a photo-sensitive medium. In this case, even if the stored data are vulnerable to light, they can be read out without (or, at least a reduced) data impairment, because there is no (or, at least a reduced) interaction between the photon and the medium. We also discuss the effect of two system imperfections, the system loss and the low quantum efficiency of photon detectors, when such memories are to be implemented.
We address the problem of how efficiently information can be encoded into and read out reliably from a passive reflective surface that encodes classical data by modulating the amplitude and phase of incident light. We show that nature imposes no fundamental upper limit to the number of bits that can be read per expended probe photon and demonstrate the quantum-information-theoretic trade-offs between the photon efficiency (bits per photon) and the encoding efficiency (bits per pixel) of optical reading. We show that with a coherent-state (ideal laser) source, an on-off (amplitude-modulation) pixel encoding, and shot-noise-limited direct detection (an overly optimistic model for commercial CD and DVD drives), the highest photon efficiency achievable in principle is about 0.5 bits read per transmitted photon. We then show that a coherent-state probe can read unlimited bits per photon when the receiver is allowed to make joint (inseparable) measurements on the reflected light from a large block of phase-modulated memory pixels. Finally, we show an example of a spatially entangled nonclassical light probe and a receiver design---constructible using a single-photon source, beam splitters, and single-photon detectors---that can in principle read any number of error-free bits of information. The probe is a single photon prepared in a uniform coherent superposition of multiple orthogonal spatial modes, i.e., a WWW state. The code and joint-detection receiver complexity required by a coherent-state transmitter to achieve comparable photon efficiency performance is shown to be much higher in comparison to that required by the WWW-state transceiver, although this advantage rapidly disappears with increasing loss in the system.
The encoding of classical data in a physical support can be done up to some level of accuracy due to errors and the imperfection of the writing process. Moreover, some degradation of the stored data can happen over time because of physical or chemical instability of the system. Any readout strategy should take into account this natural degree of uncertainty and minimize its effect. An example are optical digital memories, where the information is encoded in two values of reflectance of a collection of cells. Quantum reading using entanglement, has been shown to enhances the readout of an ideal optical memory, where the two level are perfectly characterized. In this work, we analyse the case of imperfect construction of the memory and propose an optimized quantum sensing protocol to maximize the readout accuracy in presence of imprecise writing. The proposed strategy is feasible with current technology and is relatively robust to detection and optical losses. Beside optical memories, this work have implications for identification of pattern in biological system, in spectrophotometry, and whenever the information can be extracted from a transmission/reflection optical measurement.
It has been shown recently S. Pirandola [Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 090504 (2011)] that entangled light with Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlations retrieves information from digital memory better than any classical light. In identifying this, a model of digital memory with each cell consisting of a reflecting medium with two reflectivities (each memory cell encoding the binary numbers 0 or 1) is employed. The readout of binary memory essentially corresponds to discrimination of two bosonic attenuator channels characterized by different reflectivities. The model requires an entire mathematical paraphernalia of a continuous variable Gaussian setting for its analysis when arbitrary values of reflectivities $0\ensuremath{\le}{r}_{0},{r}_{1}\ensuremath{\le}1$ are considered. Here we restrict ourselves to a basic quantum readout mechanism with two different families of non-Gaussian entangled states of light, in which the binary channels to be discriminated are (i) ideal memory characterized by reflectivity r1=1{r}_{1}=1r1​=1 (identity channel) and (ii) a thermal noise channel---where the signal light illuminating the memory location gets completely lost (r0=0{r}_{0}=0r0​=0) and only a white thermal noise hitting the upper side of the memory reaches the decoder. We compare the quantum reading efficiency of two families of non-Gaussian entangled light [($m,{m}^{\ensuremath{'}}$) family of path-entangled photon states and entangled state obtained by mixing a single photon with coherent light in a 50:50 beam splitter] with any classical source of light in this model. We identify that the classes of non-Gaussian entangled transmitters studied here offer significantly better reading performance than any classical transmitters of light in the regime of low signal intensity. We also demonstrate that the ($m,{m}^{\ensuremath{'}}$) family of entangled light exhibits better reading performance than NOON states.
An interaction-free measurement system with a polarization-based Mach-Zehnder interferometer structure is analyzed for semitransparent objects. Here, it is shown that the interaction-free measurement of such objects with 100% detection efficiency is possible in principle if the system loss is negligible. The influence of two system imperfections, the system loss and the low quantum efficiency of the photon detectors, on the interaction-free measurement is also analyzed. Although the two system imperfections limit the maximal detection efficiency that can be achievable, the quantum efficiency of the photon detectors is less important when the system loss becomes small.