22-23 317
Dan Oron, the Harry Weinrebe professor of laser physics at Weizmann Institute of Science
Abstract
Far-field optical microscopy beyond the Abbe diffraction limit is already a reality. Yet, while Abbe’s theory was based on classical physics, quantum mechanical phenomena were only very recently used for improving the performance of microscopes. Most realizations of “quantum microscopes” follow a similar logic. First, a quantum state of light is generated. Then it interacts with the sample and the sample induced changes are detected, mostly via some form of quantum state tomography. I will present an alternative approach, where the quantum resource is based on harnessing light emission from single quantum entities, and show how we increase the resolution of optical microscopes by harnessing the quantum phenomenon of fluorescence antibunching. This can be viewed as a quantum extension of the approach pioneered by Hanbury Brown and Twiss, using (classical) photon correlations and photon statistics in augmenting astronomical measurements already in the 1950s. Importantly, technological advances in detector technology have made parallelized characterization of photon statistics beyond the time domain feasible and now offer multiple opportunities in imaging and spectroscopy. Similarly, advances in data processing now allow for efficient extraction of weak quantum signatures from noisy signals. Finally, I will discuss the current status and potential future applications of large format single photon detector arrays for such applications.
