Large baseline optical imaging assisted by single photons and linear quantum optics

Abstract

In this work, we show that by combining quantum metrology and networking tools, it is possible to extend the baseline of an interferometric optical telescope and thus improve diffraction-limited imaging of point source positions. The quantum interferometer is based on single-photon sources, linear optical circuits, and efficient photon number counters. Surprisingly, with thermal (stellar) sources of low photon number per mode and high transmission losses across the baseline, the detected photon probability distribution still retains a large amount of Fisher information about the source position, allowing for a significant improvement in the resolution of positioning point sources, on the order of 10 μas. Our proposal can be implemented with current technology. In particular, our proposal does not require experimental optical quantum memories.

9 pages, 6 figures Accepted in Phys. Rev. Lett

References in corpus (5)

• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. IV. Imaging the Central Supermassive Black Hole
• Integrated Photonic Quantum Technologies
• Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors: physics and applications
• Imaging stars with quantum error correction
• Intensity interferometry: Optical imaging with kilometer baselines

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Towards Quantum Telescopes: Demonstration of a Two-Photon Interferometer for Quantum-Assisted Astronomy
• Direct and Efficient Detection of Quantum Superposition
• Quantum-enabled optical large-baseline interferometry: applications, protocols and feasibility
• Random Distillation Protocols in Long Baseline Telescopy
• Superresolution of unequal-brightness thermal sources for stellar interferometry