Quantum-Assisted Optical Interferometers: Instrument Requirements

• Main Authors: Nomerotski, Andrei, Stankus, Paul, Slosar, Anže, Vintskevich, Stephen, Andrewski, Shane, Carini, Gabriella, Dolzhenko, Denis, England, Duncan, Figueroa, Eden, Gera, Sonali, Haupt, Justine, Herrmann, Sven, Katramatos, Dimitrios, Keach, Michael, Parsells, Alexander, Saira, Olli, Schiff, Jonathan, Svihra, Peter, Tsang, Thomas, Zhang, Yingwen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 11-12-2020
• Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics; Physics - Quantum Physics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2012.02812

SPIE Proceedings Volume 11446, Optical and Infrared Interferometry
and Imaging VII; 1144617 (2020) It has been recently suggested that optical interferometers may not require a
phase-stable optical link between the stations if instead sources of
quantum-mechanically entangled pairs could be provided to them, enabling
extra-long baselines and benefiting numerous topics in astrophysics and
cosmology. We developed a new variation of this idea, proposing that photons
from two different sources could be interfered at two decoupled stations,
requiring only a slow classical connection between them. We show that this
approach could allow high-precision measurements of the relative astrometry of
the two sources, with a simple estimate giving angular resolution of $10 \
\mu$as in a few hours' observation of two bright stars. We also give
requirements on the instrument for these observations, in particular on its
temporal and spectral resolution. Finally, we discuss possible technologies for
the instrument implementation and first proof-of-principle experiments.