Lupo, C., Huang, Z. and Kok, P. (2020) Quantum limits to incoherent imaging are achieved by linear interferometry. Physical Review Letters, 124 (8). 080503. ISSN 0031-9007
Abstract
We solve the general problem of determining, through imaging, the three-dimensional positions of N weak incoherent pointlike emitters in an arbitrary spatial configuration. We show that a structured measurement strategy in which a passive linear interferometer feeds into an array of photodetectors is always optimal for this estimation problem, in the sense that it saturates the quantum Cramér-Rao bound. We provide a method for the explicit construction of the optimal interferometer. Further explicit results for the quantum Fisher information and the optimal interferometer design that attains it are obtained for the special case of one and two incoherent emitters in the paraxial regime. This work provides insights into the phenomenon of superresolution through incoherent imaging that has attracted much attention recently. Our results will find a wide range of applications over a broad spectrum of frequencies, from fluorescence microscopy to stellar interferometry.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 American Physical Society. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in Physical Review Letters. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Engineering and Physical Science Research Council EP/M013472/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 11 Mar 2020 10:29 |
Last Modified: | 11 Mar 2020 10:46 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Physical Society (APS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1103/physrevlett.124.080503 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:158317 |