Quantum imaging and sensing aim at exploiting entanglement and quantum correlation to step over classical limitations in sensitivity and resolution in measurements.
Conventional optical measurements are affected by fundamental limits that come from the quantum fluctuation of the optical field. Engineering quantum states and efficiently detecting them, allows to reduce uncertainty in measurements and to go beyond classical paradigms such as the Rayleigh diffraction limit and shot-noise limit.
We have realized several experimental demonstrations of quantum imaging and sensing technologies: wide field sub shot noise imaging and microscopy; quantum enhanced target detection in a preponderant background (an example of quantum LIDAR); super-resolution fluorescence microscopy with photon antibunching from NV centers; absolute calibration of CCD cameras by quantum correlations; quantum reading of a digital memory (in the framework of lossy channel discrimination). We also explore possible applications of quantum inspired techniques, for example ‘ghost imaging’.