title: Enhancing image contrast using coherent states and photon number resolving detectors.
abstract: We experimentally map the transverse profile of diffractionlimited beams using photon-number-resolving detectors.We observe strong compression of diffracted beam profiles for high detected photon number. This effect leads to higher contrast than a conventional irradiance profile between two Airy disk-beams separated by the Rayleigh criterion.
authors.affiliation: Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Pearlman
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Goldschmidt
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Wildfeuer
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Migdall
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D010783:Photometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D017785:Photons