Multi-reflection quantum-optical coherence tomography and experimental mimic with classical optical field

Quantum optical coherence tomography (QOCT) is the non-classical counterpart of optical coherence tomography (OCT), by which quantum interference of entangled photon pairs is used to show some advantages over classical OCT. Currently, almost all research on the QOCT focuses on the case with two photons and a twofold improvement in axial resolution has been demonstrated. Here, we introduce the multiple reflections strategy into the QOCT scheme, referencing the multi-pass strategy of the sequential scheme in quantum metrology, and provide a theoretical framework for multi-reflection quantum-optical coherence tomography (MQOCT). According to such a scheme, when the incident light interacts with the sample <b><i>N</i></b> times, the axial resolution of MQOCT is theoretically enhanced by a factor of <b><i>N</i></b> compared to that of QOCT under the same spectral bandwidth while preserving the dispersion cancellation capability of QOCT. Furthermore, we present a classical optical analogy of MQOCT using <b><i>P</i></b>-beam correlated multi-mode broadband beams and experimentally validate it. The classical optical analogy of MQOCT theoretically has the same resolution enhancement capability and dispersion cancellation capability as MQOCT while avoiding the fragility issues associated with the quantum light source which is used in MQOCT.