Chirped-pulse interferometry for dispersion-cancelled OCT

Here we report on a completely classical technique based on the time-reversal symmetry of quantum mechanics that achieves all the advantages of HOM interferometry by using oppositely-chirped laser pulses. Since our technique relies on classical lasers instead of entangled photons, it achieves these features with millions of times larger signal making it an attractive candidate for dispersion-free OCT. In particular, the visibility and width of the CPI interferogram is insensitive to dispersion and photon loss, and inherently robust against phase-fluctuations. Further, we achieve higher resolution than classical interferometers using the same bandwidth. On a fundamental level, our work emphasizes the importance of delineating truly quantum effects from those with classical analogues, and shows how insights gained from quantum mechanics can inspire novel classical technologies.