We describe a new technique of quantum astrometry, which potentially can improve the resolution of optical interferometers by orders of magnitude. The approach requires fast imaging of single photons with sub-nanosecond resolution, greatly benefiting from recent advances in photodetection technologies. We also describe results of first proof of principle measurements and lay out future plans.
This paper proposes a novel method to filter out the false alarm of LiDAR system by using the temporal correlation of target reflected photons. Because of the inevitable noise, which is due to background light and dark counts of the detector, the depth imaging of LiDAR system exists a large estimation error. Our method combines the Poisson statistical model with the different distribution feature of signal and noise in the time axis. Due to selecting a proper threshold, our method can effectively filter out the false alarm of system and use the ToFs of detected signal photons to rebuild the depth image of the scene. The experimental results reveal that by our method it can fast distinguish the distance between two close objects, which is confused due to the high background noise, and acquire the accurate depth image of the scene. Our method need not increase the complexity of the system and is useful in power-limited depth imaging.
It has been recently suggested that optical interferometers may not require a phase-stable optical link between the stations if instead sources of quantum-mechanically entangled pairs could be provided to them, enabling extra-long baselines and benefiting numerous topics in astrophysics and cosmology. We developed a new variation of this idea, proposing that photons from two different sources could be interfered at two decoupled stations, requiring only a slow classical connection between them. We show that this approach could allow high-precision measurements of the relative astrometry of the two sources, with a simple estimate giving angular resolution of $10 mu$as in a few hours observation of two bright stars. We also give requirements on the instrument for these observations, in particular on its temporal and spectral resolution. Finally, we discuss possible technologies for the instrument implementation and first proof-of-principle experiments.
We report on the results of an extensive campaign of optical and mechanical characterization of the ion-beam sputtered oxide layers (Ta$_2$O$_5$, TiO$_2$, Ta$_2$O$_5$-TiO$_2$, SiO$_2$) within the high-reflection coatings of the Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo and KAGRA gravitational-wave detectors: refractive index, thickness, optical absorption, composition, density, internal friction and elastic constants have been measured; the impact of deposition rate and post-deposition annealing on coating internal friction has been assessed. For Ta$_2$O$_5$ and SiO$_2$ layers, coating internal friction increases with the deposition rate, whereas the annealing treatment either erases or largely reduces the gap between samples with different deposition history. For Ta$_2$O$_5$-TiO$_2$ layers, the reduction of internal friction due to TiO$_2$ doping becomes effective only if coupled with annealing. All measured samples showed a weak dependence of internal friction on frequency ($phi_c(f) = af^{b}$, with $-0.208 < b < 0.140$ depending on the coating material considered). SiO$_2$ films showed a mode-dependent loss branching, likely due to spurious losses at the coated edge of the samples. The reference loss values of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo input (ITM) and end (ETM) mirror HR coatings have been updated by using our estimated value of Youngs modulus of Ta$_2$O$_5$-TiO$_2$ layers (120 GPa) and are about 10% higher than previous estimations.
A new imaging technique for $alpha$-particles using a fast optical camera focused on a thin scintillator is presented. As $alpha$-particles interact in a thin layer of LYSO fast scintillator, they produce a localized flash of light. The light is collected with a lens to an intensified optical camera, Tpx3Cam, with single photon sensitivity and excellent spatial & temporal resolutions. The interactions of photons with the camera is reconstructed by means of a custom algorithm, capable of discriminating single photons using time and spatial information.
Andrei Nomerotski
,Jonathan Schiff
,Paul Stankus
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(2021)
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"Fast imaging of single photons in quantum assisted optical interferometers"
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Andrei Nomerotski
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