Resolution, contrast, and noise of quantum and thermal ghost images

Alejandra Valencia, M. D Angelo, Morton H. Rubin

Yanhua H. Shih

Malcolm N. O’Sullivan, Mehul Malik, Kam Wai Clifford Chan +1 more

Get PDF Email Share Share with Facebook Tweet This Post on reddit Share with LinkedIn Add to CiteULike Add to Mendeley Add to BibSonomy Get Citation Copy Citation Text M. N. O'Sullivan, M. Malik, K. W. C. Chan, and R. W. Boyd, "Resolution, Contrast, and Noise of Quantum and Thermal Ghost Images," in Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics/International Quantum Electronics Conference, OSA Technical Digest (CD) (Optica Publishing Group, 2009), paper IThK6. Export Citation BibTex Endnote (RIS) HTML Plain Text Citation alert Save article

Dmitriy A. Balakin, Aleksandr V. Belinsky

Malcolm N. O’Sullivan, Kam Wai Clifford Chan, Robert W. Boyd

We present a theoretical comparison of the signal-to-noise characteristics of quantum versus thermal ghost imaging. We first calculate the signal-to-noise ratio of each process in terms of its controllable experimental conditions. We show that a key distinction is that a thermal ghost image always resides on top of a large background; the fluctuations in this background constitutes an intrinsic noise source for thermal ghost imaging. In contrast, there is a negligible intrinsic background to a quantum ghost image. However, for practical reasons involving achievable illumination levels, acquisition times for thermal ghost images are often much shorter than those for quantum ghost images. We provide quantitative predictions for the conditions under which each process provides superior performance. Our conclusion is that each process can provide useful functionality, although under complementary conditions.

Sepideh Ahmadi, Erhan Sağlamyürek, Shabir Barzanjeh +1 more

Quantum imaging techniques offer enhanced resolution, contrast, and precision at ultralow illumination levels compared to traditional imaging approaches. Relying on the unique properties of entangled photon pairs, two of these techniques stand out: the correlation-based quantum imaging technique provides visibility enhancement in imaging of a low-reflectivity object which is subject to excessive noise and losses, while the interaction-free ghost imaging allows for probing the presence of an object with an ultimately low number of photons. Here we propose a quantum imaging scheme that combines the unique advantages of these two approaches. We show that this scheme offers high-contrast imaging of objects with a minimal number of photons that can minimize thermal noise efficiently and create background-free images. We anticipate that this approach can find application in the imaging of photosensitive biological tissues in a noninvasive and harm-free fashion.