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Science Advances

Metasurface enabled quantum edge detection

Junxiao Zhou, Shi-Kai Liu, Haoliang Qian, Yin‐Hai Li, Hailu Luo, Shuangchun Wen, Zhi‐Yuan Zhou, Guang‐Can Guo, Bao-Sen Shi, Zhaowei Liu

Published Dec 16, 2020• 240 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Metasurfaces consisting of engineered dielectric or metallic structures provide unique solutions to realize exotic phenomena including negative refraction, achromatic focusing, electromagnetic cloaking, and so on. The intersection of metasurface and quantum optics may lead to new opportunities but is much less explored. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate that a polarization-entangled photon source can be used to switch ON or OFF the optical edge detection mode in an imaging system based on a high-efficiency dielectric metasurface. This experiment enriches both fields of metasurface and quantum optics, representing a promising direction toward quantum edge detection and image processing with remarkable signal-to-noise ratio.

DOI
10.1126/sciadv.abc4385

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Metasurfaces consisting of engineered dielectric or metallic structures provide unique solutions to realize exotic phenomena including negative refraction, achromatic focusing, electromagnetic cloaking, and so on. The intersection of metasurface and quantum optics may lead to new opportunities but is much less explored. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate that a polarization-entangled photon source can be used to switch ON or OFF the optical edge detection mode in an imaging system based on a high-efficiency dielectric metasurface. This experiment enriches both fields of metasurface and quantum optics, representing a promising direction toward quantum edge detection and image processing with remarkable signal-to-noise ratio.
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Quantum imaging has non-negligible advantages in terms of sensitivity, signal-to-noise ratio, and novel imaging schemes. Based on metasurfaces, the information density and stability of the quantum imaging system can be further improved. Here we experimentally demonstrate that two patterns, simultaneously and independently superimposed on a high-efficiency dielectric metasurface, can be remotely switched via polarization-entangled photon pairs. Furthermore, using the time-correlated property of entangled photon pairs, the information carried by quantum light can be remarkably discriminated from background noise. This work confirms that the phase manipulation of quantum light with metasurfaces has a huge potential in the field of quantum imaging, quantum state tomography, and also promises real-world quantum metasurface devices.
Quantum imaging using entangled photon pairs from spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) provides fundamental advantages over classical phase imaging in the study of transparent object, such as the operation at ultra-low photon flux and high signal-to-noise ratio [1], [2]. Metasurfaces supporting angle-dependent resonances have recently been employed to achieve phase imaging by extracting phase gradients of incident light [3]. These nanoscale metasurfaces indicate significant potential to replace bulky differential interference contrast microscopes, offering an opportunity for integration into ultra-compact biomedical devices. Together with recent development on metasurface-based quantum light source, this opens up the potential for developing a compact quantum phase imaging device, where metasurfaces serve both generation and detection functions.
Optical metasurfaces open new avenues for the precise wavefront control of light for integrated quantum technology. Here, we demonstrate a hybrid integrated quantum photonic system that is capable of entangling and disentangling two-photon spin states at a dielectric metasurface. Via the interference of single-photon pairs at a nanostructured dielectric metasurface, a path-entangled two-photon NOON state with circular polarization that exhibits a quantum HOM interference visibility of 86 ± 4% is generated. Furthermore, we demonstrate nonclassicality andphase sensitivity in a metasurface-based interferometer with a fringe visibility of 86.8 ± 1.1% in the coincidence counts. This high visibility proves the metasurface-induced path entanglement inside the interferometer. Our findings provide a promising way to develop hybrid-integrated quantum technology operating in the high-dimensional mode space in various applications, such as imaging, sensing, and computing.
Quantum entanglement is a key resource that can be exploited for a range of applications such as quantum teleportation, quantum computation, and quantum cryptography. However, efforts to exploit entanglement in imaging systems have so far led to solutions such as ghost imaging, that have since found classical implementations. Here, we demonstrate an optical imaging protocol that relies uniquely on entanglement: Two polarizing patterns imprinted and superimposed on a metasurface are separately imaged only when using entangled photons. Unentangled light is not able to distinguish between the two patterns. Entangled single-photon imaging of functional metasurfaces promises advances towards the use of nanostructured subwavelength thin devices in quantum information protocols and a route to efficient quantum state tomography.