Eliminating Thermal IR Background Noise by Imaging with Undetected Photons

Abstract

Spectroscopy and imaging in the mid-infrared (2.5 $\mu$m $\sim$ $\lambda$ $\sim$ 25 $\mu$m) is bedevilled by the presence of a strong 300 K thermal background at room temperature that makes IR detectors decades noisier than can be readily achieved in the visible. The technique of "imaging with undetected photons" (IUP) exploits the quantum correlations between entangled photon pairs to transfer image information from one spectral region to another, and here we show that it does so in a way that is immune to the thermal background. This means that IUP can be used to perform high speed photon counting measurements across the mid-IR, using uncooled visible detectors that are many times cheaper, faster, and more sensitive than their IR counterparts.

arXiv comment6 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (9)

• Quantum Imaging with Undetected Photons
• Quantum Physics of Simple Optical Instruments
• Hyperspectral Infrared Microscopy With Visible Light
• Gaussian state interferometry with passive and active elements
• Nonlinear interferometer for Fourier-transform mid-infrared gas spectroscopy using near-infrared detection
• Quantum Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy in the fingerprint region
• Intensity correlations, entanglement properties and ghost imaging in multimode thermal-seeded parametric downconversion: Theory
• The quantum-classical transition in thermally seeded parametric downconversion
• Biological Microscopy with Undetected Photons

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Practical quantum imaging with undetected photons
• Open-Path Methane Sensing via Backscattered Light in a Nonlinear Interferometer