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Optical and Quantum Sensing and Precision Metrology II

Noise-tolerant, single pixel imaging with a quantum heralding source

Steven D. Johnson, Alex R. McMillan, Cyril Torre, Stefan Frick, John Rarity, Miles J. Padgett

Published Mar 9, 2022• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a method of using a high-flux entangled photon-pair source to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of a single-pixel imaging system. Sensing with single-photon counting detectors will often suffer from measurement noise due to any background light levels. Using a single detector enables a high efficiency of detection and when paired with a variable transmission mask enables full images to be captured. The heralding photon from the source acts as a temporal reference, allowing the signal photons to be distinguished from background noise. This heralding method is key to understanding how quantum measurements can produce higher contrast images than their classical equivalent.

DOI
10.1117/12.2608561

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We present a method of using a high-flux entangled photon-pair source to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of a single-pixel imaging system. Sensing with single-photon counting detectors will often suffer from measurement noise due to any background light levels. Using a single detector enables a high efficiency of detection and when paired with a variable transmission mask enables full images to be captured. The heralding photon from the source acts as a temporal reference, allowing the signal photons to be distinguished from background noise. This heralding method is key to understanding how quantum measurements can produce higher contrast images than their classical equivalent.
Traditional remote sensing applications are often based on pulsed laser illumination with a narrow linewidth and characteristic repetition rate, which are not conducive to covert operation. Whatever methods are employed for covert sensing, a key requirement is for the probe light to be indistinguishable from background illumination. We present a method to perform single-pixel imaging that suppresses the effect of background light and hence improves the signal-to-noise ratio by using correlated photon-pairs produced via spontaneous parametric down conversion. One of the photons in the pair is used to illuminate the object whilst the other acts as a temporal reference, allowing the signal photons to be distinguished from background noise. Understanding the noise regime is key to producing higher contrast images using this heralding method.
Abstract Traditional remote sensing applications are often based on pulsed laser illumination with a narrow linewidth and characteristic repetition rate, which are not conducive to covert operation. Whatever methods are employed for covert sensing, a key requirement is for the probe light to be indistinguishable from background illumination. We present a method to perform single-pixel imaging that suppresses the effect of background light and hence improves the signal-to-noise ratio by using correlated photon-pairs produced via spontaneous parametric down conversion. One of the photons in the pair is used to illuminate the object whilst the other acts as a temporal reference, allowing the signal photons to be distinguished from background noise. This heralding method shows how the noise regime is key to producing higher contrast images.
Imaging with non-classically correlated photon-pairs takes advantages over classical limits in terms of sensitivity and a signal-to-noise ratio. However, it is still a challenge to achieve a strong resilience to background noise and losses for practical applications. In this work, we present heralded single-pixel imaging that is remarkably robust against bright background noise and severe signal losses. Using a strong temporal correlation between a photon-pair and joint measurement-based imaging method, we achieve the suppression of noise up to 1000 times larger than the signal and also demonstrate the correlation-induced SNR enhancement factor of over 200 against 70 times larger noise and a 90% signal loss compared to non-time-gated classical imaging. Our work enables correlated imaging with a highly scalable photon capacity.
Abstract Single-pixel imaging is a method for obtaining an image without multi-pixel sensors. In this method, an object of interest is illuminated by light that has specifically designed spatio-temporal shape, while a single-pixel detector measures the total amount of reflected or transmitted light. The key prerequisite of this method is the ability to create a given spatio-temporal light shape, which becomes especially challenging at the level of single photons. The current photon shaping procedures cannot be directly applied to single-pixel imaging due to the limited generation rate or the need for post-processing. In this work, we propose a highly efficient method for generating arbitrary single-photon shapes without post-selection. We exploit the heralded single-photon shaping approach, and study the effect of the modal properties of a single-photon detection on the characteristics of the heralded photon. We find that the use of multi-mode detection allows to increase the heralding probability of shaped photons proportionally to the number of detected modes while keeping the shape intact, which makes it highly desirable for single-pixel quantum imaging.
The quality of an image is limited to the signal-to-noise ratio of the output from sensors. As the background noise increases much more than the signal, which can be caused by either a huge attenuation of light pulses after a long-haul transmission or a blinding attack with a strong flood illumination, an imaging system stops working properly. Here we built a superconducting single-photon infrared camera of negligible dark counts and 60 ps timing resolution. Combining with an adaptive 3D slicing algorithm that gives each pixel an optimal temporal window to distinguish clustered signal photons from a uniformly distributed background, we successfully reconstructed 3D single-photon images at both a low signal level (∼1 average photon per pixel) and extremely high noise background (background-to-signal ratio = 200 within a period of 50 ns before denoising). Among all detection events, we were able to remove 99.45% of the noise photons while keeping the signal photon loss at 0.74%. This Letter is a direct outcome of quantum-inspired imaging that asks for a co-development of sensors and computational methods. We envision that the proposed methods can increase the working distance of a long-haul imaging system or defend it from blinding attacks.
We present a method to classically enhance the noise robustness of single-pixel imaging in the photon counting regime with a pulsed source. By using time-domain cross correlations between temporal profiles of a pulsed source and received signals, our scheme classically imitates the noise rejection concept of quantum imaging. Under a strong noise environment in which the background noise intensity is up to 120 times higher than the signal one, we compare three different images obtained by conventional, quantum-enhanced, and classically enhanced schemes. The results show that the classically enhanced scheme can be remarkably robust against noise in image formation, which is comparable to the quantum scheme.