Peter A. Morris

Imaging with a small number of photons

Low-light-level imaging techniques have application in many diverse fields, ranging from biological sciences to security. A high-quality digital camera based on a multi-megapixel array will typically record an image by collecting of order 105 photons per pixel, but by how much could this photon flux be reduced? In this work we demonstrate a single-photon imaging system based on a time-gated intensified camera from which the image of an object can be inferred from very few detected photons. We show that a ghost-imaging configuration, where the image is obtained from photons that have never interacted with the object, is a useful approach for obtaining images with high signal-to-noise ratios. The use of heralded single photons ensures that the background counts can be virtually eliminated from the recorded images. By applying principles of image compression and associated image reconstruction, we obtain high-quality images of objects from raw data formed from an average of fewer than one detected photon per image pixel.

Heralded phase-contrast imaging using an orbital angular momentum phase-filter

We utilise the position and orbital angular momentum (OAM) correlations between the signal and idler photons generated in the down-conversion process to obtain ghost images of a phase object. By using an OAM phase filter, which is non-local with respect to the object, the images exhibit isotropic edge-enhancement. This imaging technique is the first demonstration of a full-field, phase-contrast imaging system with non-local edge enhancement, and enables imaging of phase objects using significantly fewer photons than standard phase-contrast imaging techniques.

Resolution limits of quantum ghost imaging

Quantum ghost imaging uses photon pairs produced from parametric downconversion to enable an alternative method of image acquisition. Information from either one of the photons does not yield an image, but an image can be obtained by harnessing the correlations between them. Here we present an examination of the resolution limits of such ghost imaging systems. In both conventional imaging and quantum ghost imaging the resolution of the image is limited by the point-spread function of the optics associated with the spatially resolving detector. However, whereas in conventional imaging systems the resolution is limited only by this point spread function, in ghost imaging we show that the resolution can be further degraded by reducing the strength of the spatial correlations inherent in the downconversion process.

Experimental Limits of Ghost Diffraction: Popper’s Thought Experiment

Quantum ghost diffraction harnesses quantum correlations to record diffraction or interference features using photons that have never interacted with the diffractive element. By designing an optical system in which the diffraction pattern can be produced by double slits of variable width either through a conventional diffraction scheme or a ghost diffraction scheme, we can explore the transition between the case where ghost diffraction behaves as conventional diffraction and the case where it does not. For conventional diffraction the angular extent increases as the scale of the diffracting object is reduced. By contrast, we show that no matter how small the scale of the diffracting object, the angular extent of the ghost diffraction is limited (by the transverse extent of the spatial correlations between beams). Our study is an experimental realisation of Popper’s thought experiment on the validity of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. We discuss the implication of our results in this context and explain that it is compatible with, but not proof of, the Copenhagen interpretation.

Photon-sparse microscopy: Trans-wavelength ghost imaging

Ghost imaging systems use down-conversion sources that produce twin output beams of position-correlated photons to produce an image of an object using photons that did not interact with the object. One of these beams illuminates the object and is detected by a single pixel detector while the image information is recovered from the second, spatially correlated, beam. We utilize this technique to obtain images of objects probed with 1.5μm photons whilst developing the image using a highly efficient, low-noise, photon-counting camera detecting the correlated photons at 460nm. The efficient transfer of the image information from infrared illumination to visible detection wavelengths and the ability to count single-photons allows the acquisition of an image while illuminating the object with an optical power density of only 100 pJ cm-2 s-1. We apply image reconstruction techniques based on compressive sensing to reconstruct our images from data sets containing far fewer photons than conventionally required. This wavelength-transforming ghost imaging technique has potential for the imaging of light-sensitive specimens or where covert operation is desired.

Photon-sparse heralded imaging

How many photons does it take to form an image? Although a single photon can be spatially encoded to carry large amounts of information, real images are not fully orthogonal to each other and hence, realistically, require many detected photons to distinguish between them. Even if one has access to a pixelated imaging detector with high quantum efficiency, the fidelity of a recorded, or inferred, image depends critically upon the dark counts from the detector. Here we present imaging using heralded single-photons and a time-gated intensified camera to all but eliminate noise-events, and record images of a standard test-target. The images are formed from only a few thousand photons and are therefore subject to a noise inherent within the Poissonian distribution of single-photon events. We apply techniques of compressive sensing and image regularization to obtain good estimates of the object, obtained for ultra-low optical exposures.