Microscopy with Quantum States of Light

Benjamin J. Lawrie, Raphael C. Pooser, Petro Maksymovych

G. S. Agarwal

Alex Terrasson

David S. Simon, Gregg S. Jaeger, Alexander V. Sergienko

Alex Terrasson, Lars Madsen, Joel Grim +1 more

Squeezed states of light enable enhanced measurement precision by reducing noise below the standard quantum limit. A key application of squeezed light is nonlinear microscopy, where state-of-the-art performance is limited by photodamage and quantum-limited noise. Such microscopes require bright, pulsed light for optimal operation, yet generating and detecting bright pulsed squeezing at high levels remains challenging. In this work, we present an efficient technique to generate high levels of bright picosecond pulsed squeezed light using a $χ^2$ optical parametric amplification process in a waveguide. We measure $-3.2~\mathrm{dB}$ of bright squeezing with optical power compatible with nonlinear microscopy, as well as $-3.6~\mathrm{dB}$ of vacuum squeezing. Corrected for losses, these squeezing levels correspond to $-15.4^{+2.7}_{-8.7}~\mathrm{dB}$ of squeezing generated in the waveguide. The measured level of bright amplitude pulsed squeezing is to our knowledge the highest reported to date, and will contribute to the broader adoption of quantum-enhanced nonlinear microscopy in biological studies.

Yonatan Israel, Shamir Rosen, Yaron R. Silberberg

Imaging under low light conditions is particularly challenging, due to the effect of noise on the image. Quantum NOON states of light illuminating an object, are shown to enhance the sensitivity of polarization microscopy.