Synchronous position two-photon interference of random-phase grating

Abstract

By generalizing the phase structure of the random-phase grating we recently designed [Opt. Express21, 14056 (2013)OPEXFF1094-408710.1364/OE.21.014056], we show that non-HBT type (synchronous position) two-photon grating interference can be obtained, which physically relies on groups of multiple indistinguishable two-photon paths modulated by the spatial distributions of phase modes. By properly selecting the random-phase structures, synchronous position subwavelength interference can be obtained, the period of which, in the two-photon interference domain, is decreased by a factor N (=3,4,5,6,…), depending on the slit number and random-phase structure, and the visibility of N-fold subwavelength interference fringes could be improved by increasing the slit number of the grating. The results show that modulation on two-photon paths via spatial arrangements of the phase modes offers the possibility to actively control the optical high-order coherence in the same optical scheme.

A Review of Super-Resolution Imaging through Optical High-Order Interference [Invited]

“…Therefore, more feasible method needs to be explored. Besides the synchronous-position multi-photon interference [28,31], Hanbury Brown-Twiss type interference (dependent on the coordinate difference of the observation points) has recently been introduced for realizing Heisenberg-resolution imaging [40]. The proposed imaging scheme is shown in Figure 8I, which can be realized with current well-developed technology.…”

“…The super-resolved n-photon interference was initially realized in the optical interferometers and the far-field diffraction setups, firstly with quantum entangled sources [13][14][15][16][17][18][19], and later with different classical sources such as thermal/pseudothermal light [20][21][22][23][24] and laser [25,26], and recently with dynamical phase control on the wavefront of spatially coherent light [27][28][29][30]. The super-resolved interference has been shown to be important for applications such as super-resolved phase measurement and high-resolution optical lithography.…”

Coherent Optical Field Manipulation and Optical Information Processing Based on Electromagnetically-Induced Transparency Effect in Pr3+:Y2SiO5 Crystal

“…Subwavelength interference is capable of breaking through the classical Rayleigh spatial resolution limitation of a light field [88]; therefore, it has many potential applications, such as super-resolved optical lithography and precision measurement [89][90][91][92]. There are various ways to achieve subwavelength interference, for example, by using the higher-order optical coherence of an entangled quantum NOON state [93][94][95] or phase-correlated classical light sources [96][97][98][99][100][101]. For the quantum light sources, interfering fringes with a visibility up to 100% can be reached theoretically, whereas for practical applications, such as quantum lithography, the main challenge is the conflicting requirements on the light field strength-it should be strong enough for efficient multi-photon nonlinearity but weak enough to maintain the quantum features [92].…”

High visibility first-order subwavelength interference based on light pulse storage via electromagnetically induced transparency

“…The main challenging in the implementation of quantum lithography based on subwavelength interference is the conflicting requirements that the light field should be strong enough to induce efficient multi-photon nonlinearity yet be so weak as to keep the quantum features 9 . Later, subwavelength interference was also reported with classical light sources, but in general the interfering fringe visibility is much lower than that with quantum light sources 10 – 15 . High visibility subwavelength interference can also be achieved with specially designed classical light sources, for example, by correlating wave vector and frequency with a frequency-selective multi-photon detection that uses Doppleron-type resonances 16 , or using phase-correlated classical light sources in the higher-order optical coherence 17 , however, the difficulty in the availability of multi-photon nonlinear optical materials with efficient high-order optical nonlinearity may become a serious limitation for its practical applications 9 .…”