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Novel Sensors and Techniques in Quantum Imaging Applications

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A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Sensing and Imaging".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 February 2022) | Viewed by 12947

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ivano Ruo-Berchera

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

INRIM, Strada delle Cacce 91, I-10135 Torino, Italy
Interests: quantum optics; quantum-enhanced imaging and sensing; quantum metrology

Dr. Paolo Traina

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, Strada delle cacce 91, Turin, Italy
Interests: quantum information; experimental quantum optics; in particular, color centers in diamond (as deterministic single‐photon sources and high‐sensitivity nanoscale sensors) and quantum-enhanced interferometry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Among emerging quantum technologies, quantum imaging and sensing is one of the most developed. A large number of proposed schemes in quantum metrology promise to revolutionize imaging and related tasks surpassing conventional techniques in resolution or sensitivity, with potential applications in bio-imaging, physical and material science, and detection and ranging applications. On one hand, these novel quantum techniques will arguably constitute the basis for the next sensors generation, where it is of great importance to fill the gap between “proof-of-principle” and “real-world” applications. On the other hand, to achieve this goal, it is necessary to develop light detectors that can introduce a negligible level of decoherence and losses, preserving the quantum nature of the states used in quantum imaging and the benefit they provide.

This Special Issue will represent the state of the art and the international panorama on these topics, both for quantum imaging and sensing methods in real scenarios and the research of improved detectors that can facilitate the success and exploitation of quantum imaging.

The Special Issue will cover the following and related topics:

Detectors for quantum imaging

Single-photon detectors (SPADs, SNSPD, etc.);

Photon-number-resolving detectors (superconducting detectors, SiPM, etc.);

Detector arrays and matrixes (SPAD array, EMCCD cameras, CMOS camera, etc.);

Characterization of detectors;

Techniques in quantum imaging and sensing

Schemes exploiting quantum photon sources (single-photon sources, entangled states, squeezed states);

Optically detected magnetometry techniques with NV centers;

Quantum correlated imaging/ghost imaging;

Quantum imaging super-resolution and noise reduction;

Quantum illumination and quantum reading;

Linear and non-linear quantum interferometers;

Quantum imaging applications

EM-field mapping;

Fluorescence spectroscopy & microscopy;

Quantum LIDAR and RADAR;

Proof-of-principle techniques targeting biology, astronomy, metrology.

Dr. Ivano Ruo-Berchera
Dr. Paolo Traina
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

quantum imaging
quantum sensors
single-photon detectors
quantum metrology

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 2747 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Finite-Sized Optical Components and Pixels on Light-Field Imaging through Correlated Light

by Gianlorenzo Massaro, Francesco Di Lena, Milena D’Angelo and Francesco V. Pepe

Sensors 2022, 22(7), 2778; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22072778 - 05 Apr 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1473

Abstract

Diffraction-limited light-field imaging has been recently achieved by exploiting light spatial correlations measured on two high-resolution detectors. As in conventional light-field imaging, the typical operations of refocusing and 3D reconstruction are based on ray tracing in a geometrical optics context, and are thus well defined in the ideal case, both conceptually and theoretically. However, some properties of the measured correlation function are influenced by experimental features such as the finite size of apertures, detectors, and pixels. In this work, we take into account realistic experimental conditions and analyze the resulting correlation function through theory and simulation. We also provide an expression to evaluate the pixel-limited resolution of the refocused images, as well as a strategy for eliminating artifacts introduced by the finite size of the optical elements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Sensors and Techniques in Quantum Imaging Applications)

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14 pages, 1264 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quantum Readout of Imperfect Classical Data

by Giuseppe Ortolano and Ivano Ruo-Berchera

Sensors 2022, 22(6), 2266; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22062266 - 15 Mar 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1594

Abstract

The encoding of classical data in a physical support can be done up to some level of accuracy due to errors and the imperfection of the writing process. Moreover, some degradation of the stored data can happen over time because of physical or chemical instability of the system. Any readout strategy should take into account this natural degree of uncertainty and minimize its effect. An example are optical digital memories, where the information is encoded in two values of reflectance of a collection of cells. Quantum reading using entanglement, has been shown to enhances the readout of an ideal optical memory, where the two level are perfectly characterized. In this work, we analyse the case of imperfect construction of the memory and propose an optimized quantum sensing protocol to maximize the readout accuracy in presence of imprecise writing. The proposed strategy is feasible with current technology and is relatively robust to detection and optical losses. Beside optical memories, this work have implications for identification of pattern in biological system, in spectrophotometry, and whenever the information can be extracted from a transmission/reflection optical measurement. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Sensors and Techniques in Quantum Imaging Applications)

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14 pages, 4868 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

A Wideband Cryogenic Readout Amplifier with Temperature-Insensitive Gain for SNSPD

by Xiaokang Niu, Lianming Li, Xu Wu and Dongming Wang

Sensors 2022, 22(3), 1225; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22031225 - 06 Feb 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2525

Abstract

This paper presents a temperature-insensitive wideband cryogenic amplifier for superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPD). With a proposed folded diode-connected transistor load to realize a good device-tracking feature, the theoretical derivations the simulations and test results prove that the amplifier-gain cell has a stable gain performance over a wide temperature range, solving the issues of a lack of the accurate cryogenic device models. The amplifier achieves a gain of 26 dB from 100 kHz to 1 GHz at 4.2 K, consuming only 1.8 mW from a 1.8 V supply. With a 0.13-μm SiGe BiCMOS process, the chip area is 0.5 mm². Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Sensors and Techniques in Quantum Imaging Applications)

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10 pages, 2208 KiB

Open AccessArticle

In Situ Flow Cytometer Calibration and Single-Molecule Resolution via Quantum Measurement

by Javier Sabines-Chesterking, Ivan A. Burenkov and Sergey V. Polyakov

Sensors 2022, 22(3), 1136; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22031136 - 02 Feb 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1819

Abstract

Fluorescent biomarkers are used to detect target molecules within inhomogeneous populations of cells. When these biomarkers are found in trace amounts it becomes extremely challenging to detect their presence in a flow cytometer. Here, we present a framework to draw a detection baseline for single emitters and enable absolute calibration of a flow cytometer based on quantum measurements. We used single-photon detection and found the second-order autocorrelation function of fluorescent light. We computed the success of rare-event detection for different signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). We showed high-accuracy identification of the events with occurrence rates below

10^{- 5}

even at modest SNR levels, enabling early disease diagnostics and post-disease monitoring. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Sensors and Techniques in Quantum Imaging Applications)

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10 pages, 1370 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Towards Measuring Terahertz Photon Statistics by a Superconducting Bolometer

by Pavel Prudkovskii, Andrey Leontyev, Kirill Kuznetsov and Galiya Kitaeva

Sensors 2021, 21(15), 4964; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21154964 - 21 Jul 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2468

Abstract

Statistical distributions of the analog readings of an antenna-coupled THz superconducting bolometer were measured and analyzed under a special type of irradiation by low-energy fluxes of THz photons with Poisson photon statistics and controllable mean photon numbers. The photons were generated via low-gain parametric down-conversion in pulse-pumped Mg:LiNbO₃ crystal placed to a cooled cryostat together with the bolometer NbN film. Results of theoretical approximation of experimental histograms reveal the discrete nature of THz detection by superconducting bolometers and open a way for studying their quantum characteristics. It is shown that bolometer readings per pulse consist of discrete counts (“single charges”), with the mean number linearly dependent on the number of input photons. Contributions of single counts to a total analog reading are statistically distributed according to the normal law, with average values slightly depending on the number of counts in each reading. A general formula is proposed to describe the relationship between continuous statistical distribution of the bolometer readings and discrete quantum statistics of the incident photons. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Sensors and Techniques in Quantum Imaging Applications)

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Review

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33 pages, 669 KiB

Open AccessReview

Estimation with Heisenberg-Scaling Sensitivity of a Single Parameter Distributed in an Arbitrary Linear Optical Network

by Danilo Triggiani and Vincenzo Tamma

Sensors 2022, 22(7), 2657; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22072657 - 30 Mar 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1419

Abstract

Quantum sensing and quantum metrology propose schemes for the estimation of physical properties, such as lengths, time intervals, and temperatures, achieving enhanced levels of precision beyond the possibilities of classical strategies. However, such an enhanced sensitivity usually comes at a price: the use of probes in highly fragile states, the need to adaptively optimise the estimation schemes to the value of the unknown property we want to estimate, and the limited working range, are some examples of challenges which prevent quantum sensing protocols to be practical for applications. This work reviews two feasible estimation schemes which address these challenges, employing easily realisable resources, i.e., squeezed light, and achieve the desired quantum enhancement of the precision, namely the Heisenberg-scaling sensitivity. In more detail, it is here shown how to overcome, in the estimation of any parameter affecting in a distributed manner multiple components of an arbitrary M-channel linear optical network, the need to iteratively optimise the network. In particular, we show that this is possible with a single-step adaptation of the network based only on a prior knowledge of the parameter achievable through a “classical” shot-noise limited estimation strategy. Furthermore, homodyne measurements with only one detector allow us to achieve Heisenberg-limited estimation of the parameter. We further demonstrate that one can avoid the use of any auxiliary network at the price of simultaneously employing multiple detectors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Sensors and Techniques in Quantum Imaging Applications)

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