The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) has developed a new quantum sensor technology that allows the measurement of disturbances in the infrared region with visible light by exploiting the phenomenon of quantum entanglement. This will enable low-cost, high-performance optical IR measurements, which previously had limitations in providing quality results.
The work was published in the journal Quantum Science and Technology.
When a pair of photons, the smallest unit of light particles, are bound by quantum entanglement, they share a bound quantum state regardless of their respective distance. The recently undiscovered quantum photon sensor is a remote sensor that uses two light sources that recreate such quantum entanglement.
An idler photon refers to a photon that travels to the measurement target and returns. Instead of measuring this photon directly, the undetected photon sensor measures the other photon of the pair that is quantum entangled to obtain information about the target.
Quantum sensing based on undetected photons is a nascent technology that has only been realized in the last decade. With the technology still in its early stages, the global research community continues to be actively engaged in the development race. The undetected quantum photon sensor developed by KRISS differs from previous studies in its main photometric devices, the photodetector and the interferometer.
A photodetector is a device that converts light into an electrical signal output. Existing high-performance photodetectors were largely limited in their applications to the visible light bandwidth. While wavelengths in the infrared region are useful for measurements in various applications in many fields, there were either no detectors available or only poorly performing detectors.
This recent KRISS research has allowed the use of visible light detectors to measure light states in the infrared band, enabling efficient measurements without requiring expensive and power-consuming equipment. It can be used in a wide range of applications, including non-destructive measurement of three-dimensional structures, biometrics and gas composition analysis.
Another critical element in precision optical measurement is the interferometer, a device that receives signals by integrating multiple light beams traveling along separate paths. Conventional undetected quantum photon sensors mostly use simple Michelson interferometers that adopt simple light paths, limiting the number of targets that can be measured.
The sensor developed by KRISS implements a hybrid interferometer that can flexibly change light paths depending on the target object, significantly improving scalability. Thus, the sensor is suitable to adapt to different environmental requirements as it can be modified based on the size or shape of the measured object.
The Quantum Optics Group at KRISS has presented a theoretical analysis of the factors that determine the main performance metrics of quantum sensors and empirically demonstrated their effectiveness using a hybrid interferometer.
The research team reflected light in the infrared band onto a three-dimensional sample to be measured and measured the entangled photons in the visible bandwidth to obtain an image of the sample, including its depth and width. The team has successfully reconstructed a three-dimensional infrared image from measurements made in the visible range.
Park Hee Su, Head of the Quantum Optics Group at KRISS, said: “This is a breakthrough example that has overcome the limits of conventional optical sensing by using the principles of quantum optics.” He added that KRISS “will continue with the follow-up research on the practical implementation of the technology by reducing its measurement time and increasing the sensor resolution”.
More information:
Eun Mi Kim et al, Quantum optical coherence tomography induced by a hybrid interferometer, Quantum Science and Technology (2023). DOI: 10.1088/2058-9565/ad124d
Provided by the National Science and Technology Research Council
citation: New quantum sensor breaks limits of optical measurement using entanglement (2024, June 10) retrieved June 10, 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2024-06-quantum-sensor-limits-optical-entanglement.html
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