Quantum Shadow Imaging

We demonstrate the possibility to image and reconstruct its spatial transmission map of an object by illuminating it with a squeezed vacuum and analyzing the quantum noise statistics of the transmitted optical field. Since an opaque object obstructs the original squeezed vacuum and replaces it with a coherent vacuum, the shape of the object will present itself as a shot-noise "shadow" in the quantum noise landscape. In order to reconstruct the quantum noise of the transmitted field, we realize the spatial analog of the balanced homodyne detection that uses a camera, rather than a single-pixel photodetector. Our proposed method is most suitable for applications requiring extremely low light conditions, where the dark noise of a camera is detrimental for traditional intensity imaging.