Quantum Imaging

Dear Colleagues,

Ghost imaging:

In 1995, Pittman et al. demonstrated a non-traditional imaging mechanism using entangled photon pairs, which is now called “ghost imaging” by the physics and engineering communities, perhaps due to its incomprehensible nature. However, quantum theory has provided a reasonable solution: ghost imaging is the result of two-photon interference where a pair of photons interferes with the pair itself at a distance. In fact, two-photon interference is not restricted to entangled photons; randomly paired photons in a thermal state also produce this effect. Ten years later, ghost imaging was demonstrated with chaotic-thermal light by annihilating two randomly paired photons in coincidences. Ghost imaging has received a great deal of attention, and, in the past twenty years, a number of different ghost imaging approaches have been proposed or developed. Some of them took advantage of nonlocal multi-photon interference, while some of them were simple classical simulations. Compared with classical imaging, the two-photon interference approach has three attractive features: (1) the ghost image can be taken in a “nonlocal” manner, i.e., imaging a target that a classical camera cannot “see” directly. (2) The imaging resolution is mainly determined by the angular diameter of the light source. For example, ghost images of sunlight may achieve 200 micrometer resolution because the sun has an angular diameter of 0.5 degrees, which is very useful for distant imaging applications, such as satellite imaging. In order to take an image at 10 kilometers, and achieve 200 micrometer resolution, a classical camera would need to have a 90-meter imaging lens. (3) Ghost images are turbulence-free; atmospheric turbulence would not affect either the resolution or the quality of the ghost image. Although we are still struggling with some technical difficulties, the non-traditional imaging mechanism of ghost imaging will permeate our lives soon in the light of new technology.

Prof. Yanhua Shih
Ronald E. Meyers
Guest Editors

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