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Optics Express

Multi-band interference and imaging via joint-detection of two-photon beats from thermal radiation

Binod Joshi, Thomas A. Smith, Yanhua H. Shih

Published Feb 8, 2024• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We present a theoretical discussion of multi-band two-photon interference via joint detection by "slow" detectors and extend it to a technique for multi-band ghost imaging. This technique exploits the advantage of two-photon optical beats over classical optical beats with multi-band thermal light, where the beat frequency can be resolved from intensity fluctuation correlation measurement with two relatively slow photodetectors. The underlying two-photon beats represent a two-photon interference phenomenon: a pair of randomly created and randomly paired photons interfering with the pair itself. A notable implication of the two-photon beats is that they can be turbulence-resistant, which makes our result not only of fundamental interest but also practically useful.

DOI
10.1364/oe.518875

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We present a theoretical discussion of multi-band two-photon interference via joint detection by "slow" detectors and extend it to a technique for multi-band ghost imaging. This technique exploits the advantage of two-photon optical beats over classical optical beats with multi-band thermal light, where the beat frequency can be resolved from intensity fluctuation correlation measurement with two relatively slow photodetectors. The underlying two-photon beats represent a two-photon interference phenomenon: a pair of randomly created and randomly paired photons interfering with the pair itself. A notable implication of the two-photon beats is that they can be turbulence-resistant, which makes our result not only of fundamental interest but also practically useful.
One of the most surprising consequences of quantum mechanics is the nonlocal multi-particle interference observable in joint-detection of distant particle-detectors. Ghost imaging is one of such phenomena. Two types of ghost imaging have been experimentally demonstrated since 1995. Type-one ghost imaging uses entangled photon pairs as the light source. The nonlocal point-to-point image-forming correlation is the result of a constructive-destructive superposition among a large number of biphoton amplitudes, a nonclassical entity corresponding to different yet indistinguishable alternative ways of producing a joint-detction event between distant photodetectors. Type-two ghost imaging uses chaotic-thermal light. The type-two image-forming correlation is the result of interferences between paired two-photon amplitudes, corresponding to two different yet indistinguishable alternative ways of triggering a join-detection event by two independent photons. A great deal of confusion about ghost imaging comes from "ghost shadow". Similar to x-ray photography, a ghost shadow can be made in coincidences by "blocking-partial blocking-unblocking" of either co-rotating laser beams or classically correlated "speckles". "Ghost shadow" is indeed a classical phenomenon. The physics of ghost imaging, however, is fundamentally different. This article is aimed at exploring the nonlocal two-photon interference nature of ghost imaging.
The study of entangled states greatly advanced our understanding about two-photon interferometry. Two-photon interference is not the interference between two photons, it is about a pair of photons interfering with the pair itself. In the language of quantum theory, two-photon interference is the result of superposition between different yet indistinguishable two-photon probability amplitudes. Under certain conditions, the observed second-order interference can be factorized into a product of two individual classic first-order interferences. In this case, the interference is not only observable from the intensity fluctuation correlation measurement, or from the photon number fluctuation correlation measurement, of two photodetectors, but also observable in the counting rate of each individual photodetector. It may not be uneasy to accept the quantum concept of two-photon interference for “classical” thermal radiation. Indeed, the radiation Planck dealt with was “classical” thermal light. Perhaps, no one would even expect observing nontrivial second-order correlation from a laser beam, since laser field is non-Gaussin.
Distinct from previous principle-demonstrations, this practical quantum ghost imaging experiment presents the first set of two-photon images captured by a photon counting CCD camera by means of jointly counting 'reflected' photons from the object. In fact, the CCD camera was not 'looking' at the object at all. Rather, the CCD camera was facing the chaotic light source. The output of the CCD camera was used for coincidence registration of the two-photon joint-detection events with another photon counting detector which simply collects all randomly reflected photons from the surface of the object. It is also interesting to find that the observed two-photon images are 'distortion-free', i.e., any disturbances made along the light path has no effect on the quality of the image. These experimental observations are not only useful for practical field-applications, but also important from fundamental point of view. The experiment evidences a rejection of the 'projection shadow' idea in a non-deniable way and further explores the two-photon interference nature of thermal light ghost imaging.
In a near-field three-photon correlation measurement, we observed the third-order temporal and spatial correlation functions of chaotic thermal light in the single-photon counting regime. In the study, we found that the probability of jointly detecting three randomly radiated photons from a chaotic thermal source by three individual detectors is 666 times greater if the photodetection events fall in the coherence time and coherence area of the radiation field than if they do not. From the viewpoint of quantum mechanics, the observed phenomenon is the result of three-photon interference. By making use of this property, we measured the three-photon thermal light lensless ghost image of a double spot and achieved higher visibility compared with the two-photon thermal light ghost image.
In this article, we propose the two-photon interference imaging based on two-photon interference mechanism with thermal light source. Theoretical and experimental results show that the imaging quality and imaging speed of two-photon interference imaging are comparable to that of classical optical imaging, and much better than that of conventional quantum imaging (ghost imaging). Furthermore, Two-photon interference imaging can effectively overcome the effect of atmospheric turbulence and other harsh optical environments. The physical essence is the inhibition of two-photon interference mechanism on atmospheric turbulence.
We present a quantum two-photon interference approach to two-photon correlation phenomena of chaotic light, including the historical experiment of Hanbury Brown and Twiss. We argue against the interpretation of such phenomena in terms of a classical statistical correlation between intensity fluctuations. To support our view, we show a ‘ghost’ imaging experiment with chaotic light for which the classical understanding does not give a satisfactory interpretation. We also provide a two-photon optical picture of ghost imaging with chaotic light in terms of two-photon phase-conjugate mirrors which is very advantageous because it yields lensless two-photon imaging, suggesting imaging applications for radiations for which no effective lens is available.