Engineers and students at Brown University have developed a new technique, quantum multi-wavelength holography, creating high-fidelity 3D images using quantum entangled photons.
This new imaging technique uses quantum entanglement to capture 3D images of microscopic objects, using infrared light to illuminate target objects and creating images using visible light that is quantum-entangled with an infrared light probe.
This approach allows the system to capture both the intensity of light and its phase to create ‘holographic’ images that capture the depth of contours in an object.
Traditional imaging techniques, such as x-rays or photographs, capture light that bounces off an object, whereas quantum imaging takes advantage of quantum entanglement. When two photons are entangled, anything that happens to one photon affects the state of its entangled partner immediately, even if those two photons are separated in distance and direction. In quantum imaging, an ‘idler’ photon is used to scan the target object, while a second, ‘signal’ photon is entangled with the idler to create the image.
The researchers say that there are significant advantages to using infrared light for illumination and visible light for rendering images. The team created a ‘holographic’ image of a test object, roughly 1.5mm in diameter, creating a letter ‘B’ fashioned from metal. The researchers say that this is a strong proof-of-concept for creating high-fidelity 3D images using quantum entanglement.
Moe Zhang, junior, Brown University, commented: “We introduce quantum multi-wavelength holography. The technique allows us to gather better and more accurate information on the thickness of the object, which enables us to create accurate 3D images using indirect photons.”