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

SUPERTWIN: towards 100kpixel CMOS quantum image sensors for quantum optics applications

Leonardo Gasparini, Bänz Bessire, Manuel Unternährer, André Stefanov, D. L. Boïko, Matteo Perenzoni, David Stoppa

Published Jan 27, 2017• 22 citations

Abstract

Quantum imaging uses entangled photons to overcome the limits of a classical-light apparatus in terms of image quality, beating the standard shot-noise limit, and exceeding the Abbe diffraction limit for resolution. In today experiments, the spatial properties of entangled photons are recorded by means of complex and slow setups that include either the motorized scanning of single-pixel single-photon detectors, such as Photo-Multiplier Tubes (PMT) or Silicon Photo- Multipliers (SiPM), or the use of low frame rate intensified CCD cameras. CMOS arrays of Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPAD) represent a relatively recent technology that may lead to simpler setups and faster acquisition. They are spatially- and time-resolved single-photon detectors, i.e. they can provide the position within the array and the time of arrival of every detected photon with <100 ps resolution. SUPERTWIN is a European H2020 project aiming at developing the technological building blocks (emitter, detector and system) for a new, all solid-state quantum microscope system exploiting entangled photons to overcome the Rayleigh limit, targeting a resolution of 40nm. This work provides the measurement results of the 2nd order cross-correlation function relative to a flux of entangled photon pairs acquired with a fully digital 8×16 pixel SPAD array in CMOS technology. The limitations for application in quantum optics of the employed architecture and of other solutions in the literature will be analyzed, with emphasis on crosstalk. Then, the specifications for a dedicated detector will be given, paving the way for future implementations of 100kpixel Quantum Image Sensors.

DOI: 10.1117/12.2253598

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Quantum imaging uses entangled photons to overcome the limits of a classical-light apparatus in terms of image quality, beating the standard shot-noise limit, and exceeding the Abbe diffraction limit for resolution. In today experiments, the spatial properties of entangled photons are recorded by means of complex and slow setups that include either the motorized scanning of single-pixel single-photon detectors, such as Photo-Multiplier Tubes (PMT) or Silicon Photo- Multipliers (SiPM), or the use of low frame rate intensified CCD cameras. CMOS arrays of Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPAD) represent a relatively recent technology that may lead to simpler setups and faster acquisition. They are spatially- and time-resolved single-photon detectors, i.e. they can provide the position within the array and the time of arrival of every detected photon with <100 ps resolution. SUPERTWIN is a European H2020 project aiming at developing the technological building blocks (emitter, detector and system) for a new, all solid-state quantum microscope system exploiting entangled photons to overcome the Rayleigh limit, targeting a resolution of 40nm. This work provides the measurement results of the 2nd order cross-correlation function relative to a flux of entangled photon pairs acquired with a fully digital 8×16 pixel SPAD array in CMOS technology. The limitations for application in quantum optics of the employed architecture and of other solutions in the literature will be analyzed, with emphasis on crosstalk. Then, the specifications for a dedicated detector will be given, paving the way for future implementations of 100kpixel Quantum Image Sensors.

Spatial correlations between two photons are the key resource in realising many quantum imaging schemes. Measurement of the bi-photon correlation map is typically performed using single-point scanning detectors or single-photon cameras based on CCD technology. However, both approaches are limited in speed due to the slow scanning and the low frame-rate of CCD-based cameras, resulting in data acquisition times on the order of many hours. Here we employ a high frame rate, single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) camera, to measure the spatial joint probability distribution of a bi-photon state produced by spontaneous parametric down-conversion, with statistics taken over

10^7

frames acquired in just 140 seconds. We verified the presence of spatial entanglement between our photon pairs through the violation of an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen criterion, with a confidence level of 227 sigmas. Our work demonstrates the potential of SPAD cameras in the rapid characterisation of photon correlations, leading the way towards quantum imaging in real-time.

Single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) arrays are essential tools in biophotonics, optical ranging and sensing, and quantum optics. However, their small number of pixels, low quantum efficiency, and small fill factor have so far hindered their use for practical imaging applications. Here, we demonstrate full-field entangled photon-pair correlation imaging using a 100-kpixel SPAD camera. By measuring photon coincidences between more than 500 million pairs of positions, we retrieve the full point spread function of the imaging system and subsequently high-resolution images of target objects illuminated by spatially entangled photon pairs. We show that our imaging approach is robust against stray light, enabling quantum imaging technologies to move beyond laboratory experiments towards real-world applications such as quantum light detection and ranging.

Single photon avalanche diode arrays can provide both the spatial and temporal information of each detected photon. We present here the characterization of entangled light with a sensor specifically designed for quantum imaging applications. The sensors is time-tagging each detection events at the pixel level with sub-nanosecond accuracy, within frames of 50 ns. The spatial correlations between any number of detections in a defined temporal window can thus be directly extracted from the data. We show the ability of the sensor to characterize space-momentum entangled photon pairs emitted by spontaneous parametric downconversion. Their entanglement is demonstrated by violating an EPR-type inequality.

We introduce a new generation of 3D imaging devices based on quantum plenoptic imaging. Position-momentum entanglement and photon number correlations are exploited to provide a scan-free 3D image after post-processing of the collected light intensity signal. We explore the steps toward designing and implementing quantum plenop- tic cameras with dramatically improved performances, unattainable in standard plenoptic cameras, such as diffraction-limited resolution, large depth of focus, and ultra-low noise. However, to make these new types of devices attractive to end-users, two main challenges need to be tackled: the reduction of the acquisition times, that for the commercially available high-resolution cameras would be from tens of seconds to a few minutes, and a speed-up in processing the large amount of data that are acquired, in order to retrieve 3D reconstructions or refocused 2D images. To address these challenges, we are employing high-resolution SPAD (single photon avalanche diode) arrays and high-performance low-level programming of ultra-fast electronics, combined with compressive sensing and quantum tomography algorithms, with the aim of reducing both the acquisition and the elaboration time by one or possibly two orders of magnitude. Moreover, in order to achieve the quantum limit and further increase the volumetric resolution beyond the Rayleigh diffraction limit, we explored dedicated pro- tocols based on quantum Fisher information. Finally, we discuss how this new generation of quantum plenoptic devices could be exploited in different fields of research, such as 3D microscopy and space imaging.

Single-photon avalanche diode arrays can provide both the spatial and temporal information of each detected photon. We present here the characterization of spatially entangled photons with a 32 × 32 pixel sensor, specifically designed for quantum imaging applications. The sensor is time-tagging each detection event at pixel level with sub-nanosecond accuracy within frames of 50 ns. The spatial correlations between any number of detections in a defined temporal window can thus be directly extracted from the data.The space-momentum entanglement of photon pairs is demonstrated by violating an EPR-type inequality directly from the measured near-field correlations and far-field anti-correlations.

We continue our previous program1 where we introduced a set of quantum-based design rules directed at quantum engineers who design single-photon quantum communications and quantum imaging devices. Here, we report on experimental progress using SPAD (single photon avalanche diode) arrays of our design and fabricated in CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) technology. Emerging high-resolution imaging techniques based on SPAD arrays have proven useful in a variety of disciplines including bio-fluorescence microscopy and 3D vision systems. They have also been particularly successful for intra-chip optical communications implemented entirely in CMOS technology. More importantly for our purposes, a very low dark count allows SPADs to detect rare photon events with a high dynamic range and high signal-to-noise ratio. Our CMOS SPADs support multi-channel detection of photon arrivals with picosecond accuracy, several million times per second, due to a very short detection cycle. The tiny chip area means they are suitable for highly miniaturized quantum imaging devices and that is how we employ them in this paper. Our quantum path integral analysis of the Young-Afshar-Wheeler interferometer showed that Bohr's complementarity principle was not violated due the previously overlooked effect of photon bifurcation within the lens--a phenomenon consistent with our quantum design rules--which accounts for the loss of which-path information in the presence of interference. In this paper, we report on our progress toward the construction of quantitative design rules as well as some proposed tests for quantum imaging devices using entangled photon sources with our SPAD imager.