English

Quantum scanning synthetic optical holography

Optics 2026-07-17 v1

Abstract

Synthetic optical holography (SOH) introduced holographic reconstruction into scanning optical microscopy, enabling quantitative phase imaging with sequential acquisition and point detection. Here, we extend this concept to the quantum regime by implementing SOH within quantum imaging with undetected light (QIUL). By integrating a controlled synthetic phase carrier into a scanning QIUL implementation, we retrieve amplitude and phase images of objects probed by mid-infrared (MIR) photons while detecting only their visible partners. We demonstrate the method on binary, transparent, and biological samples, showing complex-field reconstruction in a scanning quantum imaging system. This approach decouples spatial resolution from photon-pair spatial correlations and establishes a route toward diffraction-limited, label-free MIR phase imaging with visible-wavelength detection.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.16176,
  title  = {Quantum scanning synthetic optical holography},
  author = {Josué R. León-Torres and Byron Caiza and Nadia Baumann and Sebastian Töpfer and Anna Mühlig and Orlando Guntinas-Lichius and Karin Burger and Frank Setzpfandt and Markus Gräfe and Valerio Flavio Gili},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.16176},
  year   = {2026}
}