Contacts : Jean-Michel Melkonian (jean-michel.melkonian @ onera.fr) and Julien Le Gouët (julien.le_gouet @ onera.fr)
ONERA is exploring the possibility of using technologies from the second quantum revolution to improve photonic sensors in the fields of spectroscopy and imaging.
The measurement principle we wish to explore is to form an interferometer based on a source of twin photons, called signal and idler, and to place the object to be analyzed in the arm carrying the idler photon. By detecting the interference on the path of the signal photon, it is possible to trace the information of the object (transmission, phase, absorption spectrum) that has been probed by the signal wave!
Even in the classical regime (without taking advantage of entanglement), this device has the practical advantage of being able to operate without the need for a cooled and often expensive infrared detector.
This project federates ONERA teams with skills in the fields of fiber lasers, nonlinear coherent sources, structured light imaging, and spectroscopy of diluted media, and builds on ONERA’s previous work on quantum correlation effects in semiconductors.