The next generation of cameras will count individual particles of light to build 3D images from almost no illumination at all. Today's smartphone cameras rely on millions of light-sensitive pixels that capture a flood of photons. This project develops a fundamentally different approach: using arrays of single-photon detectors that time each particle of light's arrival to within trillionths of a second. By measuring how long photons take to bounce back from a scene, the system can construct depth maps at a distance—effectively seeing in three dimensions. The work also explores how quantum entanglement could push imaging beyond fundamental limits, such as the diffraction barrier that normally blurs tiny details. The immediate challenge is algorithmic. No existing software can process the torrent of timing data from these detectors, or fuse it with conventional video and multispectral imagery. This Fellowship connects quantum optics researchers with the image-processing community to build that missing software layer. If successful, the technology could transform medical imaging—seeing through tissue with fewer photons means less radiation exposure—and enable secure quantum imaging for applications where light levels are too low for conventional cameras.
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Over the last three decades, our lives have been revolutionized by the availability of inexpensive CMOS-based CCD cameras whose ubiquitous nature has changed key aspects of security, communications, data handling, healthcare, commerce and leisure for almost all sections of society, regardless of wealth or geographical location. For example, it is estimated that over one half of all adults in the UK own a smartphone with imaging/video capability - a statistic considered unthinkable less than 10 years ago. The next revolution in imaging will almost certainly be spearheaded by sparse photon and three dimensional imaging, ultimately using the effects of quantum entanglement. Such a revolution will necessarily require fast timing of the single-photon detection, in the form of arrayed detectors or single-pixel cameras. The use of fast timing will permit effective time-of-flight based depth profiling at remote distances, and the effects of quantum entanglement could be utilised effectively in critical niche examples, such as imaging below the diffraction limit, wavelength transmutation or quantum secure imaging. These revolutionary changes represent a paradigm shift in terms of functionality, but present significant challenges in algorithm development and data processing, as well as data fusion with other imaging platforms, for example multispectral and regular video. This Fellowship will allow me to bridge the gap between the enabling quantum technology and the image processing community in order to improve the scope and overall performance of next generation imaging systems based on quantum technology.
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