X-ray phase measurements by time-energy correlated photon pairs
Abstract
The resolution of a measurement system is fundamentally constrained by the wavelength of the used wave packet and the numerical aperture of the optical system. Overcoming these limits requires advanced interferometric techniques exploiting quantum correlations. While quantum interferometry can surpass the Heisenberg limit, it has been confined to the optical domain. Extending it to x-rays enables sub-angstrom spatial and zeptosecond temporal resolution, unlocking atomic-scale processes inaccessible to existing methods. Here, we demonstrate x-ray quantum interferometry using 17.5-kilo-electron volt ( [Formula: see text] = 70 picometers) photon pairs. Our approach introduces a phase measurement technique with exceptional noise resilience, mitigating the impact of mechanical instabilities, vibrations, and photonic noise-key challenges in x-ray interferometry. By generating and using entangled x-ray photons, we lay the foundation for next-generation techniques with unprecedented phase precision. This breakthrough carries far-reaching consequences for fundamental physics, high-resolution imaging, and spectroscopy, bringing to light quantum optical effects never before accessed in the x-ray regime.
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