Achieving Quantum Limited Optical Super-resolution by Classical Measurements
Zhixian Yu · UNM’s Digital Repository (University of New Mexico) · 2017
Direct imaging, which records the light intensity but discards information about the phase in the image plane, is just one among an infinite number of measurement protocols permitted by quantum mechanics. We calculate the Quantum Fisher Information (QFI) for shot-noise-limited imagery that can localize and resolve closely spaced point sources fully in all three dimensions. We also propose an experimental approach based on the use of computer generated hologram and projective measurements to realize QFI-limited variance for this problem at a qualitatively reduced photon cost. In spite of the classical character of such a measurement scheme, it achieves quantum limited performance that can be of much practical value under photon-starved operating conditions.