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

Generation of broadband spontaneous parametric fluorescence and its application to quantum optical coherence tomography

Masayuki Okano, Ryo Okamoto, Akira Tanaka, Shanthi Subashchandran, Shutaro Ishida, Norihiko Nishizawa, Shigeki Takeuchi

Published Sep 1, 2011• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) based on Michelson interferometer has widely been utilized in biology and medicine as a type of optical biopsy and quantum optical coherence tomography (QOCT) based on Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer has recently been demonstrated. By use of quantum entangled photon pairs generated via spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) process, axial resolution of QOCT can be better than that of OCT in principle for a source of same bandwidth and group velocity dispersion (GVD) effect for QOCT can be automatically cancelled thanks to the frequency correlation of entangled photon pairs. To realize high-resolution QOCT, we need a broadband quantum entangled photon pair source. Then we proposed a novel conventional method to generate broadband spontaneous parametric fluorescence via SPDC by using multiple nonlinear crystals pumped by a CW laser. Our method has controllability to tune the center frequency of generated photons and scalability to extend the number of crystals. This conventional method can enable us to achieve sub-micron axial resolution of QOCT.

DOI
10.1117/12.893213

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Optical coherence tomography (OCT) based on Michelson interferometer has widely been utilized in biology and medicine as a type of optical biopsy and quantum optical coherence tomography (QOCT) based on Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer has recently been demonstrated. By use of quantum entangled photon pairs generated via spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) process, axial resolution of QOCT can be better than that of OCT in principle for a source of same bandwidth and group velocity dispersion (GVD) effect for QOCT can be automatically cancelled thanks to the frequency correlation of entangled photon pairs. To realize high-resolution QOCT, we need a broadband quantum entangled photon pair source. Then we proposed a novel conventional method to generate broadband spontaneous parametric fluorescence via SPDC by using multiple nonlinear crystals pumped by a CW laser. Our method has controllability to tune the center frequency of generated photons and scalability to extend the number of crystals. This conventional method can enable us to achieve sub-micron axial resolution of QOCT.
Quantum optical coherence tomography (QOCT) offers a simple way to cancel dispersion broadening in a sample while also providing twice the resolution compared to classical OCT. However, to achieve these advantages, a bright and broadband source of entangled photon pairs is required. A simple implementation uses collinear spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a Michelson interferometer (MI), yet this autocorrelation scheme suffers from parasitic terms and sensitivity to phase noise. Here, we introduce a cross-correlation MI-based QOCT that overcomes these drawbacks, significantly advancing QOCT toward practical applications.
A number of nonclassical (quantum) sources of light have come to the fore in recent years [1], but few practical applications have emerged. One such application is quantum optical coherence tomography (QOCT) [2, 3], a fourth-order interferometric optical-sectioning scheme that makes use of frequency-entangled photon pairs generated via spontaneous optical parametric down-conversion (SPDC). A particular merit of QOCT is that it is inherently immune to group-velocity dispersion (GVD) by virtue of the frequency entanglement of the photon pairs [4]-[6]. Conventional optical coherence tomography (OCT) [7], in contrast, is a second-order interferometric scheme that provides high-resolution axial sectioning by employing ultra-broadband light. Unfortunately, however, this leads to GVD, which degrades resolution. Here we present the first experimental QOCT images of a biological sample: an onion-skin tissue coated with gold nanoparticles. Three-dimensional images are displayed in the form of transverse sections at different depths. The results reveal that QOCT is a viable biological imaging technique.
Broadband correlated photon pairs (biphotons) are valuable in quantum metrology, but current generation methods either involve complex nonlinear structures or lack sufficient bandwidth and brightness. In this work, we theoretically describe and experimentally demonstrate an alternative technique for generation of a bright collinear biphoton field with a broad spectrum, achieved by using a tightly focused pump in a bulk nonlinear crystal. As the most straightforward application of the source, we employ Michelson interferometer-based quantum optical coherence tomography (QOCT). Utilizing the source enables the demonstration of record resolution and dispersion cancellation for this QOCT scheme.
Optical-coherence tomography (OCT) is a technique that employs light in order to measure the internal structure of semitransparent, e.g. biological, samples. It is based on the interference pattern of low-coherence light. Quantum-OCT (QOCT), instead, employs the correlation properties of entangled photon pairs, for example, generated by the process of spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC). The usual QOCT scheme uses photon pairs characterised by a joint-spectral amplitude with strict spectral anti-correlations. It has been shown that, in contrast with its classical counterpart, QOCT provides resolution enhancement and dispersion cancellation. In this paper, we revisit the theory of QOCT and extend the theoretical model so as to include photon pairs with arbitrary spectral correlations. We present experimental results that complement the theory and explain the physical underpinnings appearing in the interference pattern. In our experiment, we utilize a pump for the SPDC process ranging from continuous wave to pulsed in the femtosecond regime, and show that cross-correlation interference effects appearing for each pair of layers may be directly suppressed for a sufficiently large pump bandwidth. Our results provide insights and strategies that could guide practical implementations of QOCT.
As some of the most promising quantum applications such as high resolution quantum optical coherence tomography (QOCT) [1] with dispersion cancellation as well as quantum key distribution require frequency entanglement. Therefore, frequency entanglement light sources are an essential importance for implement of many quantum optical applications. So Far, the most prominent method used for the entangled photon pair generation is spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in nonlinear crystals. Recently, with adopting chirp quasi-phase matching (QPM) PPSLT (periodically poled stoichiometric lithium tantalate) has been used as source of entangled photons with large bandwidth [2]. However, improving the overall system efficiency is still remain challenging.