Quantum-Enhanced 3D Optical Microscopy (Q3DOM)

自从光学成像设备，如显微镜和望远镜发明以来，人们一直在寻求提高它们的分辨率。一个基本的限制，被称为瑞利极限，与衍射有关：传统的光学系统不能分辨小于发射光波长的角分离。在过去的几十年里，已经提出了许多绕过显微镜衍射极限的技术，定义了一个称为超分辨率成像的领域。然而，这些方法要么在近场操作，要么依赖于非线性探测，这使得它们昂贵、侵入性强，并且不能普遍适用。开发一种线性光学成像技术，在远场范围内操作，并能够重建三维结构，将标志着涉及光学成像的所有科学、工程、生物和医学领域的一场革命。尽管衍射极限已经存在了150年，而且似乎是不可动摇的，但最近的一项理论突破表明，可以通过采用一种完全不同的检测方法来突破它。不像传统的“直接成像”方法那样测量强度作为收集平面横向位置的函数，而是可以测量不同横向位置的电磁场振幅的相关性。在实践中，这涉及到在高阶横向电磁模式下检测物体发出的光，并使人们能够提取有关入射场的进一步信息，从而实现亚瑞利精度，并在原则上达到量子力学允许的最终分辨率极限。这一发现已经被许多实验证实，尤其是牛津大学PI最近的一项工作，首次展示了新技术在获得复杂物体完整二维图像方面的应用。然而，这种方法要成为一种主流的、普遍适用的成像技术，还有很长的路要走。其中一个挑战是将该方法扩展到3D成像，即绘制物体表面特征高度的任务。我们将在这个项目中解决这一重大挑战。基于诺丁汉大学PI和Co-I最近开发的概念理论，我们将设计一个基于量子超分辨率核心工作原理的创新仪器，通过理论模拟对其能力进行基准测试，并展示其在成像真实3D样品中的性能。我们提出的技术的主要优点是它的非侵入性。它将实现亚瑞利横向和角分辨率，而不需要任何相互作用和接近样品，而是通过被动分析来自样品的光场，利用优化的探测器。因此，我们提出的技术可以找到广泛的应用，包括生物组织成像，增材制造的质量控制，以及双星和系外行星的天文观测。

Since the invention of optical imaging devices, such as microscopes and telescopes, there has been a quest to enhance their resolution. A fundamental limitation, known as the Rayleigh limit, is associated with diffraction: conventional optical systems cannot resolve angular separations smaller than the wavelength of the emitted light. In the last decades, a number of techniques for circumventing the diffraction limit in microscopy have been proposed, defining a field called superresolution imaging. However, these approaches are either operational in the near-field, or rely on non-linear probing, which makes them expensive, invasive, and not universally applicable.Developing an imaging technology that is linear-optical, operational in the far-field regime, and able to reconstruct three-dimensional structures would mark a revolution in all fields of science, engineering, biology and medicine that involve optical imaging.Although the diffraction limit has existed for 150 years and appeared unshakeable, a recent theoretical breakthrough has revealed that it can be beaten by applying a fundamentally different method of detection. Rather than measuring the intensity as a function of the transverse position in the collection plane (as the traditional "direct imaging" approach), one can measure the correlation of electromagnetic field amplitudes at different transverse positions. In practice, this involves detecting the light emitted by an object in higher-order transverse electromagnetic modes and enables one to extract further information about the incoming field, thereby achieving sub-Rayleigh precision and in principle reaching the ultimate resolution limits allowed by quantum mechanics. This discovery has been confirmed by a number of experiments, notably a recent work by the Oxford PI, which demonstrated, for the first time, the application of the new technique to obtain full 2D images of complex objects. However, there is still a long way to go before this method can become a mainstream, universally applicable imaging technique. One of the challenges is to extend the method to 3D imaging - that is, the task of mapping out the heights of object surface features. We will address this major challenge in this project. Reliant on the conceptual theory, recently developed by the Nottingham PI and Co-I, we will design an innovative instrument based on the core working principle of quantum superresolution, benchmark its capabilities against theoretical simulations, and demonstrate its performance in imaging real 3D samples. The main advantage of our proposed technology is its non-invasive nature. It will achieve sub-Rayleigh lateral and angular resolution without requiring any interaction and proximity to the sample, but by passively analysing the light field arriving from the sample making use of optimised detectors. Our proposed technology can therefore find wide-ranging applications, including imaging of biological tissues, quality control in additive manufacturing, and astronomical observations of twin stars and exoplanets.