Wolley, O., Mekhail, S. , Moreau, P.-A. , Gregory, T., Gibson, G. , Leuchs, G. and Padgett, M.J. (2023) Near single-photon imaging in the shortwave infrared using homodyne detection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120(10), e2216678120. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.2216678120) (PMID:36857346)
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Abstract
Low-light imaging is challenging in regimes where low-noise detectors are not yet available. One such regime is the shortwave infrared where even the best multipixel detector arrays typically have a noise floor in excess of 100 photons per pixel per frame. We present a homodyne imaging system capable of recovering both intensity and phase images of an object from a single frame despite an illumination intensity of ≈1 photon per pixel. We interfere this weak signal which is below the noise floor of the detector with a reference beam that is ∼300, 000 times brighter, record the resulting interference pattern in the spatial domain on a detector array, and use Fourier techniques to extract the intensity and phase images. We believe our approach could vastly extend the range of applications for low-light imaging by accessing domains where low-noise cameras are not currently available and for which low-intensity illumination is required.
Item Type: | Articles |
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Additional Information: | The authors would like to thank Raptor Photonics for providing a loan of the Raptor Owl 640M. This work was funded by the UK EPSRC (QuantIC EP/M01326X/1). O.W. acknowledges the financial support from the EPSRC (QuantIC EP/R513222/1). S.M. acknowledges the EPSRC (QuantIC EP/M01326X/1). P.-A.M. acknowledges the support from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (Grants No.110WFA0912122). T.G. acknowledges the financial support from the EPSRC (EP/SO19472/1). G.G. acknowledges the financial support from the EPSRC (EP/T00097X/1). G.L. acknowledges financial support by BMBFunder contract No. 13N15329 ("HoChSEE"). M.J.P. acknowledges the financial support from the Royal Society (RSRP/R1/211013P). |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Gibson, Dr Graham and Wolley, Mr Osian and Mekhail, Mr Simon and Gregory, Dr Thomas and Moreau, Dr Paul-Antoine and Padgett, Professor Miles |
Authors: | Wolley, O., Mekhail, S., Moreau, P.-A., Gregory, T., Gibson, G., Leuchs, G., and Padgett, M.J. |
College/School: | College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy |
Journal Name: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Publisher: | National Academy of Sciences |
ISSN: | 0027-8424 |
ISSN (Online): | 1091-6490 |
Published Online: | 01 March 2023 |
Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2023 The Authors |
First Published: | First published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 120(10): e2216678120 |
Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons License |
Data DOI: | 10.5525/gla.researchdata.1388 |
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