Mid-infrared single-photon computational temporal ghost imaging

Abstract

The capture of transient optical waveforms is critical to reveal dynamical phenomena in various fields. However, fast and sensitive mid-infrared (MIR) measurements are typically limited by processing bandwidth and detection sensitivity of conventional infrared detectors. Here, we propose and implement a computational temporal ghost imaging system, which favors high-speed and high-sensitivity characterization of MIR temporal objects. The core process relies on high-fidelity nonlinear optical transduction for facilitating both the programmable structured illumination and frequency upconversion detection based on the high-performance near-infrared light modulator and detector, respectively. Consequently, the correlation between the recorded integral upconversion intensity and the designated encoding patterns allows one to reconstruct the MIR profiles with a temporal resolution of 80 ps, well beyond the intrinsic bandwidth or timing jitter of the involved detectors. Moreover, a record-high detection sensitivity is manifested by recovering single-photon MIR waveforms with an incident flux below 0.1 photon/bit. Additionally, faithful reconstructions at sub-Nyquist sampling rates are demonstrated using the compressive sensing algorithm, which can reduce the data acquisition time by over 90\%. The presented paradigm features high timing precision, single-photon sensitivity, and efficient data sampling, which could be extended into far-infrared or terahertz regions to address pressing demands in fast and sensitive sensing.