Performance of sensorless adaptive optics strongly relies on the choice of an adequate image metric. Illumination with photon pairs provides direct access to the PSF of the system, allowing for efficient optimisation for aberration correction.
Adaptive optics (AO) is central to high-resolution microscopy, yet conventional implementations often require repeated correction-and-measurement cycles whose number increases with aberration complexity. This measurement burden can become prohibitive when the available temporal window for correction is short or when photon budgets are constrained. Here, we demonstrate an AO strategy that exploits the spatial correlations of entangled photon pairs to retrieve aberrations directly. By using the second-order correlation function as an aberration-sensitive metric, the required correction can be determined with only a few measurements, without relying on image-based feedback or iterative optimization. This correlation-based approach establishes an efficient framework for AO leveraging quantum light, offering a new route toward quantum-enhanced microscopy in regimes where conventional correction strategies become challenging.
Quantum imaging with spatially entangled photons offers advantages such as enhanced spatial resolution, robustness against noise, and counterintuitive phenomena, while a biphoton spatial aberration generally degrades its performance. Biphoton aberration correction has been achieved by using classical beams to detect the aberration source or scanning the correction phase on biphotons if the source is unreachable. Here, a new method named position-correlated biphoton Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensing is introduced, where the phase pattern added on photon pairs with a strong position correlation is reconstructed from their position centroid distribution at the back focal plane of a microlens array. Experimentally, biphoton phase measurement and adaptive imaging against the disturbance of a plastic film are demonstrated. This single-shot method is a more direct and efficient approach toward quantum adaptive optics, suitable for integration into quantum microscopy, remote imaging, and communication.
Abstract High-precision preparation of holographic optical tweezers, which is a critical requirement for neutral atom quantum computing platforms, faces the challenge of system aberrations that degrade trap performance. In this paper, we propose a simple and efficient aberration correction algorithm for wavefront-sensorless optical systems, based on correcting the relative lateral shift of diffracted light across spatial regions. Applied to a cold atomic system, this technique demonstrates active correction of aberrations up to several wavelengths, reducing them to a peak-to-valley difference of 0.19(3) λ . The diffraction spot quality and optical trap depth are significantly improved after aberration correction. Combined with subsequent array optimization, the technique enables the generation of uniform optical trap arrays with enhanced atom-loading efficiency. The method requires no prior wavefront information or additional hardware, utilizing only an SLM and a standard CCD camera. Its computational efficiency and hardware simplicity make it broadly applicable to fields such as laser lithography and microscopy.