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  • Review Article
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Enhancing spectroscopy and microscopy with emerging methods in photon correlation and quantum illumination

Nature Nanotechnology volume 20, pages 1001–1016 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Quantum optics has led to important advancements in our ability to prepare and detect correlations between individual photons. Its principles are increasingly translated into nanoscale characterization tools, furthering methods in spectroscopy, microscopy and metrology. In this Review, we discuss the rapid progress in this field driven by advanced technologies of single-photon detectors and quantum-light sources, including time-resolved single-photon counting cameras, superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors and entangled photon sources of increasing brightness. We emphasize emerging applications in super-resolution microscopy, measurements below classical noise limits and photon-number-resolved spectroscopy—a powerful paradigm for the characterization of nanoscale electronic materials. We conclude by discussing key technological challenges and future opportunities in materials science and bionanophotonics alike.

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Fig. 1: Photon correlation for nanomaterials characterization.
Fig. 2: Photon correlation in super-resolution microscopy.
Fig. 3: Nanosystem characterization under quantum-light illumination.
Fig. 4: Quantum-light illumination used in microscopy.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the College of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley and the US Department of Energy (DE-AC02-05CH11231).

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  1. Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Chieh Tsao, Haonan Ling, Alex Hinkle, Yifan Chen, Keshav Kumar Jha, Zhen-Li Yan & Hendrik Utzat

  2. Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Chieh Tsao, Keshav Kumar Jha & Hendrik Utzat

  3. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

    Haonan Ling

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Tsao, C., Ling, H., Hinkle, A. et al. Enhancing spectroscopy and microscopy with emerging methods in photon correlation and quantum illumination. Nat. Nanotechnol. 20, 1001–1016 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01992-3

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