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Integer Programming and Combinatorial Optimization

Prospects of Optical Heterodyne Detection for Astronomy and One Photon Interferometry

Etienne P. Le Coarer, Almas Chalabaev, G. Duvert

Published Apr 1, 2014• 1 citation
OpenAlex

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In astronomy, interferometry of light collected by separate telescopes is often performed by physically bringing the optical paths together in the form of Young's double-slit experiment. Optical loss severely limits the efficiency of this so-called direct detection method, motivating the fundamental question of whether one can achieve a comparable performance using separate optical measurements at the two telescopes before combining the measurement results. Using quantum mechanics and estimation theory, here I show that any such spatially local measurement scheme, such as heterodyne detection, is fundamentally inferior to coherently nonlocal measurements, such as direct detection, for estimating the mutual coherence of bipartite thermal light when the average photon flux is low. This surprising result reveals an overlooked signature of quantum nonlocality in a classic optics experiment.
Heterodyne interferometry uses beats produced by superposing two light waves with different frequencies at a photodetector. The output from the photodetector then contains a component at the beat frequency which can be processed to obtain information on changes in the optical path difference. We present experimental results which show that beats can be observed down to power levels at which the mean time interval between the arrival of photons at the photodetector is much greater than the transit time from the laser source to the detector and also when the mean time interval between photons is greater than the period of the beat. These results show that the beats are not due to the interference of one photon with another, but arise from a succession of single-photon events. It follows that measurements can be made even at extremely low photon fluxes by using homodyne detection and extending the integration time.