Revealing optical vortices with a small number of photons (内封面文章,Inside Cover Paper)
Revealing optical vortices with a small number of photons (内封面文章,Inside Cover Paper)
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DOI：
10.1002/lpor.201600163
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发表时间：
2017
影响因子：
11
通讯作者：
Karimi Ebrahim
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Zhang Wuhong;Wang Jikang;Li Fangshu;Chen Lixiang;Karimi Ebrahim
探测隐藏在超弱背景中的黑暗光学涡旋是一项艰巨的任务。在这里，我们报告了一项实验，证明光学涡旋可以用较少数量的光子直接可视化和识别。我们的方法基于螺旋相衬技术的扩展，以合并高阶拓扑电荷的涡旋相位板（VPP）。在我们的实验中，我们准备了有趣结构的光学涡旋阵列，例如阿拉伯数字和带有各种拓扑电荷的机翼。通过将各种 VPP 滤波器放置在 4f 成像系统的傅立叶平面中，可以将入射超弱光场的嵌入涡旋可视化，揭示它们的位置和拓扑电荷。研究发现，较高阶的涡旋通常需要较少数量的光子来检测。我们的方法可能在超弱光环境下的天文光学和生物传感领域有潜在的应用。
Detecting the optical vortices of darkness hidden in an ultra‐weak background is a difficult task. Here we report an experiment demonstrating that the optical vortices can be directly visualized and identified with a smaller number of photons. Our method is based on the extension of the spiral phase contrast technique to incorporate vortex phase plates (VPP) of high‐order topological charges. In our experiment, we prepare optical vortex arrays of interesting structures such as Arabic numerals and the wings carrying various topological charges. By placing various VPP filters in the Fourier plane of a 4f imaging system, the embedded vortices of an incident ultra‐weak light field can be visualized, revealing both their positions and topological charges. It is found that a higher order vortex generally requires a smaller number of photons to be detected. Our method may find potential application in the fields of astronomical optics and biosensing in an ultra‐weak light environment.