Optical authentication via photon-synthesized ghost imaging using optical nonlinear correlation

We present a method for optical authentication via photon-synthesized ghost imaging using optical nonlinear correlation. In ghost imaging, multiple series of photons recorded at the object beam arm can be arbitrarily controlled for the generation of synthesized objects. Ghost imaging with sparse reference intensity patterns provides a channel to effectively modulate the noise-like synthesized objects during the recovery, and the reconstructed (noise-like) objects, i.e., added or subtracted information, can be further authenticated by optical nonlinear correlation algorithm. It is expected that the proposed method can provide an effective and promising alternative for ghost-imaging-based optical processing.     

Quantum and classical coincidence imaging

Coincidence, or ghost, imaging is a technique that uses two correlated optical fields to form an image of an object. In this work we identify aspects of coincidence imaging which can be performed with classically correlated light sources and aspects which require quantum entanglement. We find that entangled photons allow high-contrast, high-resolution imaging to be performed at any distance from the light source. We demonstrate this fact by forming ghost images in the near and far fields of an entangled photon source, noting that the product of the resolutions of these images is a factor of 3 better than that which is allowed by classical diffraction theory.     

"Two-Photon" coincidence imaging with a classical source

Coincidence imaging is a technique that extracts an image of a test system from the statistics of photons transmitted by a reference system when the two systems are illuminated by a source possessing appropriate correlations. It has recently been argued that quantum entangled sources are necessary for the implementation of this technique. We show that this technique does not require entanglement, and we provide an experimental demonstration of coincidence imaging using a classical source. We further find that any kind of coincidence imaging technique which uses a "bucket" detector in the test arm is incapable of imaging phase-only objects, whether a classical or quantum source is employed.     

Incoherent coincidence imaging and its applicability in X-ray diffraction

Entangled-photon coincidence imaging is a method to nonlocally image an object by transmitting a pair of entangled photons through the object and a reference optical system, respectively. The image of the object can be extracted from the coincidence rate of these two photons. From a classical perspective, the image is proportional to the fourth-order correlation function of the wave field. Using classical statistical optics, we study a particular aspect of coincidence imaging with incoherent sources. As an application, we give a proposal to realize lensless Fourier-transform imaging, and discuss its applicability in x-ray diffraction.     

Time-resolved multiple imaging by detecting photons with changeable wavelengths

Transporting information is one of the important functions of photons and is also the essential duty of information science. Here, we realize multiple imaging by detecting photons with changeable wavelengths based on time-resolved correlation measurements. In our system, information from multiple objects can be transported.During this process, the wavelength of the photons illuminating the objects is different from the wavelength of the photons detected by the detectors. More importantly, the wavelength of the photons that are utilized to record images can also be changed to match the sensitive range of the used detectors. In our experiment, images of the objects are reconstructed clearly by detecting the photons at wavelengths of 650, 810, and 1064 nm,respectively. These properties should have potential applications in information science.     

Resolution of ghost imaging with entangled photons for different types of momentum correlation

We present an analytical analysis of the spatial resolution of quantum ghost imaging implemented by entangled photons from a general, spontaneously parametric, down-conversion process. We find that the resolution is affected by both the pump beam waist and the nonlinear crystal length. Hence, we determined a method to improve the resolution for a certain imaging setup. It should be noted that the resolution is not uniquely related to the degree of entanglement of the photon pair since the resolution can be optimized for a certain degree of entanglement. For certain types of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen(EPR) states——namely the momentum-correlated or momentum-positively correlated states——the resolution exhibits a simpler relationship with the pump beam waist and crystal length. Further, a vivid numerical simulation of ghost imaging is presented for different types of EPR states,which supports our analysis. This work discusses applicable references to the applications of quantum ghost imaging.     

强度涨落在热光鬼成像中的作用

热光鬼成像的图像质量在实际应用中具有重要作用. 通过理论分析和数值模拟, 发现光场的强度涨落程度会影响热光鬼成像的对比度, 基于此, 提出可以通过调节热光场的平均强度和强度波动的方差来提高成像对比度, 并且研究了这一方法对成像信噪比的影响. 将这种方法与另一种提高成像对比度的方法——高阶鬼成像进行了对比, 所得结果将有助于提高对热光鬼成像的理解. 关键词： 鬼成像 强度涨落 对比度 信噪比     

Novel Ghost Imaging Method for a Pure Phase Object

We propose a novel ghost imaging scheme which is especially served to a pure phase object. A spatially incoherent beam is mixed with a coherent beam of the same frequency field by a beamsplitter. Then we perform the ghost imaging scheme using the mixed beam. Our theoretical result shows that this approach is capable of reconstructing a pure phase object in joint-intensity measurement. The visibility of the images is also analysed for two pure phase objects, an optical wedge and a phase grating.     

Quantum crossing symmetry as heart of ghost imaging

In this paper it is proved that the keys to understanding the ghost imaging are the crossing symmetric (CS) photon reactions in the nonlinear media. So CS introduced a real optical path between the object and his “ghost” image, making possible to apply the geometric optics for a rigorous proof of the essential laws of the “ghost” imaging phenomena. Hence, the laws of the plane quantum mirror (QM) and that of spherical quantum mirror, observed in the ghost-imaging experiments, are shown that can be obtained as natural consequences of the energy-momentum conservation laws. So, it is proved that the ghost imaging laws depend only on the energy-momentum conservation and not on the photons entanglement. Using DFG-typical features we obtained explicit predictions of the intensities of the idler photons in terms of the intensities of the interacting photon-(p and s)-beams in the nonlinear crystal. Two fundamental experiments for a decisive test of the [SPDC-DFG]-quantum mirrors are suggested.     

Ghost images without the background based on Bell states

When observing a ghost image, information on an object is obtained by measuring the spatial correlation between photons propagating in the object and reconstruction channels. In the traditional schemes involving two-mode entangled quantum states or quasithermal light sources, the correlation function of photons has a background associated with the average number of photons in the channels. It has been shown in this work that the use of polarization-entangled states, e.g., Bell states, allows removing this background and, thereby, obtaining a higher quality reconstructed image.     

Experimental Investigation of Quality of Lensless Ghost Imaging with Pseudo-Thermal Light

Factors influencing the quality of lensless ghost imaging are investigated. According to the experimental results, we find that the imaging quality is determined by the number of independent sub light sources on the imaging plane of the reference arm. A qualitative picture based on advanced wave optics is presented to explain the physics behind the experimental phenomena. The present results will be helpful to provide a basis for improving the quality of ghost imaging systems in future works.     

Visibility enhancement in two-dimensional lensless ghost imaging with true thermal light

We report an experimental demonstration of two-dimensional(2D) lensless ghost imaging with true thermal light. An electrodeless discharge lamp with a higher light intensity than the hollow cathode lamp used before is employed as a light source. The main problem encountered by the 2D lensless ghost imaging with true thermal light is that its coherence time is much shorter than the resolution time of the detection system. To overcome this difficulty we derive a method based on the relationship between the true and measured values of the second-order optical intensity correlation, by which means the visibility of the ghost image can be dramatically enhanced. This method would also be suitable for ghost imaging with natural sunlight.     

Phase modulation pseudocolor encoding ghost imaging

We present a ghost imaging scheme that can obtain a good pseudocolor image of black-and-white objects.The essential idea is to use a multi-wavelength thermal light source and the phase modulation pseudocolor encoding technique,which overcomes the disadvantages of other methods involved spatial filtering.Therefore,the pseudocolor ghost image achieved by this imaging scheme is better than that obtained by other methods in terms of brightness,color,and signal-tonoise ratio.     

门控下InGaAs/InP单光子探测器用于符合测量的时域滤波特性研究

基于砷化镓/磷化铟雪崩光电二极管(InGaAs/InP APD)的半导体单光子探测器因工作在通信波段,且具有体积小、成本低、操作方便等优势,在实用化量子通信技术中发挥了重要作用.为尽可能避免暗计数和后脉冲对单光子探测的影响,InGaAs/InP单光子探测器广泛采用门控技术来快速触发和淬灭雪崩效应,有效门宽通常在纳秒量级.本文研究揭示了门控下单光子探测器可测量的最大符合时间宽度受限于门控脉冲的宽度,理论分析与实验结果良好拟合.该研究表明,门控下InGaAs/InP单光子探测器用于双光子符合测量具有显著的时域滤波特性,限制了其在基于双光子时间关联测量的量子信息技术中的应用.     

Lensless ghost imaging through the strongly scattering medium

Lensless ghost imaging has attracted much interest in recent years due to its profound physics and potential applications. In this paper we report studies of the robust properties of the lensless ghost imaging system with a pseudo-thermal light source in a strongly scattering medium. The effects of the positions of the strong medium on the ghost imaging are investigated. In the lensless ghost imaging system, a pseudo-thermal light is split into two correlated beams by a beam splitter. One beam goes to a charge-coupled detector camera, labeled as CCD2. The other beam goes to an object and then is collected in another charge-coupled detector camera, labeled as CCD1, which serves as a bucket detector. When the strong medium, a pane of ground glass disk, is placed between the object and CCD1, the bucket detector, the quality of ghost imaging is barely affected and a good image could still be obtained. The quality of the ghost imaging can also be maintained, even when the ground glass is rotating, which is the strongest scattering medium so far. However, when the strongly scattering medium is present in the optical path from the light source to CCD2 or the object, the lensless ghost imaging system hardly retrieves the image of the object. A theoretical analysis in terms of the second-order correlation function is also provided.     

Probability theory of intensity correlation in ghost imaging with thermal light

To well reveal the imaging mechanism of ghost imaging (GI) with thermal light, we propose a probability theory using more general assumptions than existing theoretical explanations that the reference patterns obey an arbitrary identical distribution and the objects are of grayscale. It is not limited to a specific correlation function, even multi-functional variants of reference patterns can be used in correlation calculation. We have proven in both theory and experiments that the reconstruction means are linear transformations of original object's gray values and the probabilities of recovered pixel values in the pixel region of the same original gray value follow a Gaussian distribution, whose variance explains the appearance of reconstruction noise. We also derive the relationship between pattern variance and contrast-to-noise ratio under noisy conditions, which will be instructive for better pattern construction. This work will deepen the understanding of GI and enrich intensity correlation forms.     

基于光场一阶关联的时域成像

与通常利用二阶强度关联测量实现时域鬼成像不同,本文利用时域热光源借助干涉仪通过一阶关联实现时域成像.基于空域光束的近轴衍射和时域窄带脉冲在色散介质中色散之间的空间-时间二象性,在时域脉冲响应函数的基础上得到了表征一阶关联时域成像的强度表达式,分析研究了光源脉冲宽度和相干时间对成像可见度和分辨率的影响.结果一方面表明基于热光场一阶关联的时域成像在不需要额外色散补偿或消除条件下可以实现时域物体信号的再现,另一方面表明当光源脉冲宽度一定时,成像可见度随光源脉冲相干时间的增加而增加,但是成像分辨率逐渐降低,其中当光源脉冲宽度约为100 ps,相干时间约为0.5 ps时,间隔为20 ps,宽度为8 ps的时域矩形波型物体的成像质量(兼顾可见度和分辨率)较好.该结果对于基于热光一阶关联的时域成像在时序信号测量中的应用具有重要意义.     

Improvement of the optical image reconstruction based on multiplexed quantum ghost images

Ghost imaging allows one to obtain information on an object from the spatial correlation function between photons propagating through or reflected from the object and photons of the reference arm. In this case, detection in the object arm is performed over the entire aperture of the beam and, therefore, it does not give information on the object. The reference beam does not interact with the object, but is recorded with a scanning point detector or a CCD array permitting the measurement of the spatial correlation function of photons in two arms. The use of multimode entangled quantum light beams by illuminating the object by one beam and orienting other beams to reference arms makes it possible to obtain simultaneously several ghost images (GIs). Cross correlations of multiplexed GIs (MGIs) are determined by eighth-order field correlation functions. A special algorithm is developed for calculating higher-order correlations of Bose operators. The presence of GI cross correlations is used for improving the quality of the reconstructed object’s image by their processing using the measurement reduction method. An example of the computer simulation of the image reconstruction by MGIs formed in the field of four-frequency entangled quantum states is considered. It is found that in this case the reduced GI has a signal-to-noise ratio several times higher than that of GIs.     

Interferences,ghost images and other quantum correlations according to stochastic optics

There are an extensive variety of experiments in quantum optics that emphasize the non-local character of the coincidence measurements recorded by spatially separated photocounters. These are the cases of ghost image and other interference experiments based on correlated photons produced in, for instance, the process of parametric down-conversion or photon cascades. We propose to analyse some of these correlations in the light of stochastic optics, a local formalism based on classical electrodynamics with added background fluctuations that simulate the vacuum field of quantum electrodynamics, and raise the following question: can these experiments be used to distinguish between quantum entanglement and classical correlations?     

基于稀疏阵赝热光系统的强度关联成像研究

强度关联成像在近几年取得很大的突破,其应用价值越来越明显。以随机涨落的热光作为光源是强度关联成像的前提。目前常使用激光穿过旋转的毛玻璃产生赝热光。鉴于使用毛玻璃产生赝热光的局限性,提出了使用稀疏阵独立子光源产生赝热光,并在这种光源结构下讨论了基于线性关联算法的强度关联成像和基于稀疏约束非线性算法的强度关联成像的异同。