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Optics Letters

Ultrabroadband ghost imaging exploiting optoelectronic amplified spontaneous emission and two-photon detection

Sébastien Hartmann, Andreas Molitor, Wolfgang Elsäßer

Published Dec 9, 2015• 19 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Ghost imaging (GI) is one of the recent fascinating and probably counterintuitive topics of quantum optics. Here, we present an alternative classical GI scheme using spectrally ultrabroadband amplified spontaneous emission from an optoelectronic quantum dot based superluminescent diode source. This light source exhibits highly incoherent properties regarding both first- and second-order correlations with a 70 nm-wide optical spectrum as well as thermal-like photon statistics. Exploiting a two-photon-absorption detection method, we demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a GI experiment handling the corresponding femtosecond correlation timescales. By introducing compact broadband light sources to GI, this work contributes toward practical application of GI.

DOI
10.1364/ol.40.005770

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Ghost imaging (GI) is one of the recent fascinating and probably counterintuitive topics of quantum optics. Here, we present an alternative classical GI scheme using spectrally ultrabroadband amplified spontaneous emission from an optoelectronic quantum dot based superluminescent diode source. This light source exhibits highly incoherent properties regarding both first- and second-order correlations with a 70 nm-wide optical spectrum as well as thermal-like photon statistics. Exploiting a two-photon-absorption detection method, we demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a GI experiment handling the corresponding femtosecond correlation timescales. By introducing compact broadband light sources to GI, this work contributes toward practical application of GI.
Initially, ghost imaging (GI) was demonstrated with entangled light from parametric down conversion. Later, classical light sources were introduced with the development of thermal light GI concepts. State-of-the-art classical GI light sources rely either on complex combinations of coherent light with spatially randomizing optical elements or on incoherent lamps with monochromating optics, however suffering strong losses of efficiency and directionality. Here, a broad-area superluminescent diode is proposed as a new light source for classical ghost imaging. The coherence behavior of this spectrally broadband emitting opto-electronic light source is investigated in detail. An interferometric two-photon detection technique is exploited in order to resolve the ultra-short correlation timescales. We thereby quantify the coherence time, the photon statistics as well as the number of spatial modes unveiling a complete incoherent light behavior. With a one-dimensional proof-of-principle GI experiment, we introduce these compact emitters to the field which could be beneficial for high-speed GI systems as well as for long range GI sensing in future applications.
We analyze the statistics of photons originating from amplified spontaneous emission generated by a quantum dot superluminescent diode.Experimentally detectable emission properties are taken into account by parametrizing the corresponding quantum state as a multimode phase-randomized Gaussian density operator.The validity of this model is proven in two subsequent experiments using fast two-photon-absorption detection observing second-order equal-time and second-order fully time-resolved intensity correlations on femtosecond timescales.In the first experiment, we study the photon statistics when the number of contributing longitudinal modes is systematically reduced by applying well-controlled optical feedback.In a second experiment, we add coherent light from a single-mode laser diode to quantum dot superluminescent diode broadband radiation.Tuning the power ratio, we realize tailored second-order correlations ranging from Gaussian to Poissonian statistics.Both experiments are very well matched by theory, thus giving first insights into the quantum properties of radiation from quantum dot superluminescent diodes.
Ghost imaging is a novel non-conventional technique allowing to generate high resolution images by correlating the intensity of two light beams, neither of which independently contains sufficient information about the spatial distribution and shape of the object. The first demonstration of ghost imaging used light in double photon state, obtained from spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Owing to the entanglement of the source photons, the proposed theory required quantum descriptions for both the optical source and its photo-detection statistics1. However, subsequent experimental and theoretical considerations2,3 demonstrated that ghost imaging can be performed also with thermalized light, utilizing either CCD detector arrays or photon-counting detectors, thus admitting to a semi-classical description, employing classical fields and shot-noise limited detectors. This has generated increasing interest4-6 in establishing a unifying theory that characterizes the fundamental physics of ghost imaging and defines the boundary between classical and quantum domains. In this view, we exploited recent progress obtained through the application of Fourier Transform Techniques to demonstrate ghost imaging in the frequency domain, in order to measure a continuous spectrum by using a highly brilliant and coherent monochromatic source. In particular, we demonstrate the application of this ghost imaging technique to broadband spectroscopic measurements by means of interaction free photon detection. The experimental apparatus and the collected data are described in a dedicated work7. In this paper, we consider the theoretical aspects underlying the proposed Spectroscopic technique. In particular, two alternative theoretical models are presented. In one case, a statistical approach (semi-classical) is applied, where the states of the sampling beam are considered, whereas in the other case a pure quantum treatment is carried on, by describing the interaction of vacuum states generated by photon conversion processes. Both theoretical models, though carried on by means of a complementary formalism, lead to equivalent results and offer a physical interpretation of the collected experimental data. The application of these results offer novel perspectives for remote sensing in low light conditions, or in spectral regions where sensitive detectors are lacking.
Ghost modalities are by no means ``spooky actions'', but are metrology schemes exploiting intensity correlations of light, based on the fundamentals of quantum optics. The authors demonstrate ghost spectroscopy based on classical photon correlations in the wavelength domain of broad-band light emitted by an ultraminiaturized superluminescent semiconductor diode. Comprehensive proof of principle is provided by a real-world experiment on chloroform at 1214 nm. This demonstrated analogy between ghost imaging and ghost spectroscopy is expected to further fertilize the field, to promote a deeper understanding, and to lead even to other protocols in ghost metrology.
Commercial devices for optical coherence tomography greatly benefit from the exceptional features of broadband light-emitting quantum dot superluminescent diodes (QDSLDs). Here, light generation occurs at the transition from spontaneous to stimulated emission, the regime of the amplified spontaneous emission. In this context, initially spontaneously emitted photons are amplified by stimulated emission processes when traversing through the QDSLD, which leads to strong light amplification. The suitable choice of the waveguide geometry and the gain medium formed by quantum dots, enables large spectral widths of some terahertz combined with a rather higher degree of spatial coherence. Modern measurement methods based on two-photon absorption processes provide a temporal resolution of some femtoseconds and thus allow correlation studies of the emitted QDSLD light. Also from a theoretical point of view, the characterization of the amplified spontaneous emission generated by QDSLDs and their associated photon statistics represents an interesting and challenging research topic. Especially in a particular temperature regime these devices exhibit uncommon properties with regard to the temporal field and intensity correlations: While the field correlation reflects the rather highly incoherent nature of light emitted by QDSLDs due to its spectral width of several THz, a reduction of the second order correlation from 2 to 1.33 at a temperature of T=190K was observed in the Semiconductor Optics group of Prof. W. Elsäßer at the Technical University of Darmstadt in 2011. The understanding of the occurrence of these hybrid coherent light states, which are simultaneously incoherent in first and coherent in second order correlation function is the subject of this thesis. In a first step we find the quantum mechanical light state associated with the QDSLD to be well described by a multimode phase-randomized Gaussian state by comparison with experimental results. In the second step we present a microscopic theory of the amplified spontaneous emission, which allows an explanation of the temperature-dependent noise suppression of broadband QDSLDs. For this purpose we consider distinguishable quantum dots, which are embedded in a strongly absorptive bulk material that defines a waveguide. Tilted and anti-reflection coated output facets, leading to a suppression of longitudinal modes, are modeled by beam splitters that couple the internal field to the surroundings. Regarding the spectral properties of QDSLDs, the broadband light generated inside the diode is described by a multimode electric field. This multimode quantum field theory yields rate equations for the optical power densities and the level occupation of the inhomogeneous ensemble of quantum dots within the diode. With the help of the input-output formalism, we determine the optical power spectrum. As a main result, we find the broadband external power spectrum to be a convolution of the intra-diode photon spectrum with a Lorentzian response. This finding corresponds with experimentally available spectra. Furthermore, based on the quantum theory of QDSLDs we determine the central second-order degree of coherence. It reveals a reduction within a special detuning regime and therefore allows the interpretation of the hybrid coherent light phenomenon from a quantum optical point of view.