Researchers have used a quantum mechanical property to overcome some of the limitations of conventional holograms. This new method, described in detail in Nature Physics, employs quantum entanglement to allow two photons to become single “non-spatial particles.” Photon pairs bound to the main article to produce new and improved holograms.
Classical holograms use a single light beam splitting into two. A beam has sent to the thing you recreating and reflected in a special camera. The second beam transmitted directly to the camera. Light, you can reconstruct a 3D image by measuring the differences in its stages. One of its main properties is the consistency of the waves. Quantum holograms share some of these principles, but their application is very different. It starts by splitting a laser beam into two, but these two beams will not reunite. The key is in the partition. As you can see in the image below, the blue laser strikes a nonlinear crystal, creating two beams made up of a pair of intertwined photons.
There is no equivalent of the jungle in our macroscopic world. The particles involved are part of a single state, so a change in one of them creates an instantaneous change in others no matter how far away they are. One involved photon transmitted through the beam object; the other transmitted through a special light modulator.
The two beams measured individually by separate megapixel cameras, their properties will vary in a very specific way due to the influence of quantum mechanics and four images will collected. The information then assembled into a hologram, although the beam remains permanently isolated.
“Classical holography works very cleverly with the direction, color, and polarization of light, but its limitations, such as interference from unwanted light sources and sensitivity to mechanical instability,” said lead study author Dr Hugo Defienne from the University of Glasgow (UofG) said in a statement. “The process we have developed frees us from that limitation of classical unity and introduces holography in the quantum realm. Using the photons involved, new ways created to create sharper, more in-depth holograms that open up new possibilities for practical application of the technique.”
The team’s experiment was able to recreate the holograms of a liquid crystal playing the “UFG” character, as well as transparent tape, silicone oil stems and a bird’s feather. Experimental technology may have important applications in multiple fields beyond what current holograms can achieve.
“One of these applications may be in medical imaging, where holography is already used in microscopy for detailed exploration of fine specimens, often with clear-sightedness. Our process allows us to create high-resolution, low-scattering images that reveal fine details of cells and help us learn more about how biology works at the cellular level.
The work can also be important for quantum computers and quantum communication. Prototypes of these technologies regularly employ involved photons.
