Second-order self-imaging with parametric amplification four-wave mixing

By modulating the emission characteristics of a twin-correlated bright beam in a parametric amplification of the four-wave mixing process, a nondestructive and lensless imaging scheme to image ultra-cold atoms or molecules is proposed. The optical lattice state, which is induced via the coupling between ultra-cold atoms and a standing wave, is used to effectively modulate the dressing-suppressed/enhanced nonlinear susceptibility, and an emission-intensity-modulated grating of a correlated bright beam is formed. The intensity fluctuations of the correlated bright beam are taken as the imaging light to implement second-order coincidence measurement. As an important complementary scheme to a previous self-imaging scheme with spontaneous parametric down-conversion, our scheme has the characteristic of an efficient generation and detection rate. In addition, the visibility of the imaging can be significantly improved by enhanced nonlinear susceptibility. Our work may offer a nondestructive and lensless way to image ultra-cold atoms or molecules.