Quantum imaging and metrology with undetected photons: tutorial

Abstract

We present a tutorial on the phenomenon of induced coherence without induced emission, and specifically its application to imaging and metrology. It is based on a striking effect where two nonlinear crystals, by sharing a coherent pump and one or two output beams, can induce coherence between the other two output beams. This can be thought of as a type of quantum-erasure effect, where the “welcher-weg” (which-way), or in this case, “which-source,” information is erased when the shared beams are aligned. With the correct geometry, this effect can allow an object to be imaged using only photons that have never interacted with the object—in other words, the image is formed using undetected photons. Interest in this and related setups has been accelerating in recent years due to a number of desirable properties, mostly centered around the fact that the fields for detection and imaging (since separate) may have different optical properties, entailing significant advantages for various applications. The purpose of this tutorial is to introduce researchers to this area of research, to provide practical tools for setting up experiments as well as understanding the underlying theory, and also to provide a comprehensive overview of the sub-field as a whole.