Precision estimation of source dimensions from higher-order intensity correlations
Pearce ME, Mehringer T, von Zanthier J, Kok P (2015)
Publication Status: Published
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2015
Journal
Publisher: American Physical Society
Book Volume: 92
Article Number: 043831
Journal Issue: 4
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.92.043831
Abstract
An important topic of interest in imaging is the construction of protocols that are not diffraction limited. This can be achieved in a variety of ways, including classical superresolution techniques or quantum entanglement-based protocols. Here, we consider superresolving imaging in the far field using higher-order intensity correlations. We show that third-and fourth-order correlations can improve upon the first-and second-order correlations that are traditionally used in classical optics and Hanbury Brown-Twiss-type experiments. The improvement is achieved entirely by post-processing of the data. As a demonstrator, we simulate the far field intensity distribution of a circular aperture that emits thermal light and use maximum likelihood estimation to determine the radius of the aperture. We compare the achieved precision to the Cramer-Rao lower bound and find that the variance of measurements for the third-and fourth-order correlation functions are indeed closer to the Cramer-Rao bound than that of the second-order correlation function. The method presented here is general, and can be used for all kinds of incoherent emitters, geometries, and types of noise.
Authors with CRIS profile
Thomas Mehringer
Institut für Optik, Information und Photonik
Joachim von Zanthier
Quantum Optics & Quantum Information (QOQI)
Related research project(s)
Involved external institutions
United Kingdom (GB)How to cite
APA:
Pearce, M.E., Mehringer, T., von Zanthier, J., & Kok, P. (2015). Precision estimation of source dimensions from higher-order intensity correlations. Physical Review A, 92(4). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.92.043831
MLA:
Pearce, M. E., et al. "Precision estimation of source dimensions from higher-order intensity correlations." Physical Review A 92.4 (2015).
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