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Optics Express

Ghost imaging with different frequencies through non-degenerated four-wave mixing

Ya Yu, Chengyuan Wang, Jun Liu, Jinwen Wang, Mingtao Cao, Dong Wei, Hong Gao, Fuli Li

Published Aug 1, 2016• 21 citations
Publisher

Abstract

As a novel imaging method, ghost imaging has been widely explored in various fields of research, such as lensless ghost imaging, computational ghost imaging, turbulence-free ghost imaging. Recently, ghost imaging in non-degenerated system with pseudo-thermal light has been discussed theoretically, however, to our best knowledge, no experimental evidence has been proven yet. In this paper, we propose a new approach to realize ghost imaging with different frequencies, which are generated through a non-degenerated four-wave mixing(FWM) process in Rb vapor. In our experiment, by employing pseudo-thermal light as the probe beam, we found that the generated FWM signal has a strong second-order correlation with the original thermal light. On basis of that, we successfully implement non-degenerate ghost imaging, and reconstruct highly similar images of objects.

DOI
10.1364/oe.24.018290

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As a novel imaging method, ghost imaging has been widely explored in various fields of research, such as lensless ghost imaging, computational ghost imaging, turbulence-free ghost imaging. Recently, ghost imaging in non-degenerated system with pseudo-thermal light has been discussed theoretically, however, to our best knowledge, no experimental evidence has been proven yet. In this paper, we propose a new approach to realize ghost imaging with different frequencies, which are generated through a non-degenerated four-wave mixing(FWM) process in Rb vapor. In our experiment, by employing pseudo-thermal light as the probe beam, we found that the generated FWM signal has a strong second-order correlation with the original thermal light. On basis of that, we successfully implement non-degenerate ghost imaging, and reconstruct highly similar images of objects.
Two‐photon “ghost” imaging, based on the second‐order intensity correlation, was first realized with entangled light, but has now been demonstrated with true thermal light. Following our work on lensless and high‐order ghost imaging with thermal light, we have recently shown that both entangled and thermal light may be used to produce two‐photon correlation Talbot effects. In the Talbot effect, first observed in 1836, a periodic object illuminated with coherent light can give rise to repeated self‐images at specific positions within the Fresnel diffraction field without any lens. Using an incoherent thermal light source, we have experimentally observed second and higher order Talbot self‐images, including fractional and phase‐reversal images, at multiples of the Talbot length in a lensless setup containing two optical paths. We have also recently observed another surprising imaging phenomenon which does not depend on the second‐order correlation function, and can produce both negative and positive images of a nonlocal object. It is expected that these types of imaging will find novel applications in both the microscopic and macroscopic regimes.
In a near-field four-photon correlation measurement, ghost imaging with classical incoherent light is investigated. By applying the Klyshko advanced-wave picture, we consider the properties of four-photon spatial correlation and find that the fourth-order spatial correlation function can be decomposed into multiple lower-order correlation functions. On the basis of the spatial correlation properties, a proof-of-principle four-photon ghost imaging is proposed, and the effect of each part in a fourth-order correlation function on imaging is also analyzed. In addition, the similarities and differences among ghost imaging by fourth-, second-, and third-order correlations are also discussed. It is shown that the contrast and visibility of fourth-order correlated imaging are improved significantly, while the resolution is unchanged. Such studies can be very useful in better understanding multi photon interference and multi-channel correlation imaging.
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 imaging was first demonstrated with entangled photon pairs and well-known for its peculiar properties. The signal beam that illuminates the object possesses no spatial resolution, whereas the reference beam, which never interacts with the object, is spatially resolved. Either beam alone cannot retrieve the image, which can only be obtained when the signal and reference beams are correlated. Here we will report a ghost imaging experiment with even more peculiar properties, in which the image can be reconstructed when no photon interacts with the object or even no photon in neither signal nor reference beam. All the photons interacted with the object are discarded. Only the time bins with zero photon are employed to retrieve the image, a process referred to as "ghost imaging with zero photons" hereafter. The reason why ghost image can be retrieved with zero photons is jointly determined by photon-number projection measurement and photon statistics of thermal light. The results are helpful to resolve the debate on the physics of ghost imaging and understand the relation between quantum and classical correlations.
Correlation property of light limits the performance in related applications such as the visibility of ghost imaging or intensity interferometry. To exceed these performance limits, we here manipulate the degree of second- and higher-order coherence of light by changing controllable variables in four-wave mixing (FWM) process. The measured degree of second- and third-order coherence of the output light beams considerably exceed those of the incident pseudothermal light. Namely superbunching effects, g(2)(0) value up to 7.47 and g(3)(0) value up to 58.34, are observed experimentally. In addition, strong second- and third-order cross-correlation exist between the output light beams. Further insights into the dependence of superbunching light on the temperature of Rb vapor, the laser detuning and the optical power of all the incident light beams show that it can serve as a light source with a tunable superbunching degree.