Up-converting nanoparticles for single-photon superresolution optical fluctuation imaging

Here, we show that up-converting nanoparticles are able to function as stochastic non-Poissonian emitters suitable for superresolution optical fluctuation imaging. We uncover ranges of parameters where up-converting media with emitters such as rare-earth ions can exhibit nonexponential statistics of photon emission times. We also show that photon bunching can be induced by interactions between emitters. This effect can be used for a stochastic imaging modality in which only the contributions of interacting emitters to the cumulant image are enhanced. We also develop a method to use spatial cross-correlations of the registered field to enhance resolution.