Imaging with reduced data (Invited)

Sudhakar Prasad, Jonathan R. Owens, J. W. Bray +1 more

Conventional superresolution of closely spaced point sources using image intensity data acquired by noiseless single-photon detectors suffers from Rayleigh’s diffraction curse that can only be overcome at photon numbers that scale quartically with the degree of required superresolution. By contrast, acquiring and processing suitably chosen mode projections of the wavefront, which contain dual information of its intensity and phase, can reduce the photon budget to one that is quadratic in the degree of superresolution and achieve quantum-limited performance. Such dramatic improvements enabled by the wavefront projection (WFP) approach have been realized both in computer simulation and laboratory experiments over the last five years. The invited talk will explore the fundamental, theoretically insuperable limits on superresolution imaging by presenting computations of quantum Fisher information and practical realizations of the novel WFP approach that can reach these limits for a variety of point and extended source geometries and operating conditions.

Jacob P. Covey

Jian Wang

Tailored complex optical fields, may find applications in optical manipulation, imaging, microscopy, quantum information processing, and optical communications. Here, we focus on data information transfer for optical communications using complex optical fields. We review recent research progress in complex optical field modulation, multiplexing, and multicasting for data information transfer on different platforms of waveguides, free space, and fiber. Challenges and perspectives are also discussed.

Nurul T. Islam

Peilong Hong, Guoquan Zhang

Resolution is crucially important for optical imaging, which defines the smallest spatial feature of object that can be delivered by light wave. However, due to the wave nature of light, optical imaging is of limited resolution, widely known as Rayleigh limit or Abbe limit. Nevertheless, this limit can be overcome by considering the loopholes in the derivation of the Rayleigh limit, such as light–matter interaction, structured illumination, and near-field interference. In contrast to the conventional single-photon interference, multi-photon amplitudes responsible for optical high-order interference could be designed to possess a reduced effective wavelength, enabling the breakthrough of the Rayleigh limit. In this review, we will present recently developed super-resolution imaging schemes based on optical high-order interference, and discuss future perspectives.

James M. McCracken