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arXiv:quant-ph/0701024 · Physical Review Letters

Quantum Imaging with Incoherent Photons

C. Thiel, Thierry Bastin, John Martin, E. Solano, Joachim von Zanthier, G. S. Agarwal

Published Sep 28, 2007• 70 citations
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Abstract

We propose a technique to obtain subwavelength resolution in quantum imaging with potentially 100% contrast using incoherent light. Our method requires neither path-entangled number states nor multiphoton absorption. The scheme makes use of N photons spontaneously emitted by N atoms and registered by N detectors. It is shown that for coincident detection at particular detector positions a resolution of lambda/N can be achieved.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.99.133603

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We propose a technique to obtain subwavelength resolution in quantum imaging with potentially 100% contrast using incoherent light. Our method requires neither path-entangled number states nor multiphoton absorption. The scheme makes use of N photons spontaneously emitted by N atoms and registered by N detectors. It is shown that for coincident detection at particular detector positions a resolution of lambda/N can be achieved.
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It has been recently shown that an interferometric measurement may allow for subwavelength resolution of incoherent light. Whereas this holds for noiseless detectors, one could expect that the resolution is in practice limited by the signal-to-noise ratio. Here I present a qualitative assessment of the ultimate resolution limits that can be achieved using noisy detectors. My analysis indeed indicates that the signal-to-noise ratio represents a fundamental limit to quantum imaging, and the reduced resolution scales with the square root of the signal-to-noise ratio. For example, a signal-to-ratio of 20dB20\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{dB}20dB is needed to resolve one order of magnitude below the wavelength.