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Sunlight-Powered Photon Pair Source Hits 90% Ghost-Imaging Visibility

5/21/2026

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Summary

Story summary

Xiamen University researchers demonstrated a sunlight-pumped system generating correlated photon pairs via spontaneous parametric down-conversion.
With a sun-tracking mount, 20 m fiber and a PPKTP crystal, the system reached 90.7% ghost-imaging visibility—near the 95.5% of a 405 nm laser—while maintaining signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratios despite sunlight changes.
Published in Advanced Photonics on April 24, 2026, the study describes a passive source needing no lasers or external power that could enable imaging in space settings.

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Story summary

Xiamen University researchers demonstrated a sunlight-pumped system generating correlated photon pairs via spontaneous parametric down-conversion.
With a sun-tracking mount, 20 m fiber and a PPKTP crystal, the system reached 90.7% ghost-imaging visibility—near the 95.5% of a 405 nm laser—while maintaining signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratios despite sunlight changes.
Published in Advanced Photonics on April 24, 2026, the study describes a passive source needing no lasers or external power that could enable imaging in space settings.