{"paper":{"title":"High-order mid-infrared nonlinear topological differentiator","license":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","headline":"Nonlinear upconversion imprints vortex patterns to enable tunable high-order edge differentiation in mid-infrared light at 3 micrometers.","cross_cats":[],"primary_cat":"physics.optics","authors_text":"Heping Zeng, Jianan Fang, Jixi Zhang, Kun Huang, Shina Liao, Zhuohang Wei","submitted_at":"2026-05-13T13:50:05Z","abstract_excerpt":"High-order edge-enhanced imaging enables precise feature localization and effective background suppression, offering a powerful tool for real-time recognition and high-contrast visualization. Extending this capability to the mid-infrared (MIR) regime is particularly valuable for applications such as biomedical diagnostics, material inspection, and remote sensing, yet remains limited by inadequate spatial-frequency modulation fidelity and low detection sensitivity. Here, we demonstrate a high-sensitivity MIR upconversion differentiator operating at 3 $\\mu$m, which achieves isotropic high-order "},"claims":{"count":4,"items":[{"kind":"strongest_claim","text":"Here, we demonstrate a high-sensitivity MIR upconversion differentiator operating at 3 μm, which achieves isotropic high-order edge enhancement by optically imprinting topological complex-amplitude patterns onto MIR Fourier components via nonlinear parametric interaction.","source":"verdict.strongest_claim","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C1","attestation":"unclaimed"},{"kind":"weakest_assumption","text":"The phase-only SLM can encode the required vortex transfer functions t(kr, φ) ∝ kr^ℓ e^{iℓφ} with sufficient fidelity that the nonlinear parametric interaction faithfully transfers them to the MIR Fourier plane without introducing significant distortions or losses.","source":"verdict.weakest_assumption","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C2","attestation":"unclaimed"},{"kind":"one_line_summary","text":"A nonlinear upconversion system encodes tunable topological vortex patterns to perform first-to-fourth-order isotropic edge differentiation in mid-infrared imaging with single-photon sensitivity.","source":"verdict.one_line_summary","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C3","attestation":"unclaimed"},{"kind":"headline","text":"Nonlinear upconversion imprints vortex patterns to enable tunable high-order edge differentiation in mid-infrared light at 3 micrometers.","source":"verdict.pith_extraction.headline","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C4","attestation":"unclaimed"}],"snapshot_sha256":"718c567d6158fc2d08bf8f1f3f855c0a034681e135747892886732a91962ff10"},"source":{"id":"2605.13541","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":"dd2559fc-6eac-4942-a35b-cd3f7dd0126d","model_set":{"reader":"grok-4.3"},"created_at":"2026-05-14T19:10:21.750758Z","strongest_claim":"Here, we demonstrate a high-sensitivity MIR upconversion differentiator operating at 3 μm, which achieves isotropic high-order edge enhancement by optically imprinting topological complex-amplitude patterns onto MIR Fourier components via nonlinear parametric interaction.","one_line_summary":"A nonlinear upconversion system encodes tunable topological vortex patterns to perform first-to-fourth-order isotropic edge differentiation in mid-infrared imaging with single-photon sensitivity.","pipeline_version":"pith-pipeline@v0.9.0","weakest_assumption":"The phase-only SLM can encode the required vortex transfer functions t(kr, φ) ∝ kr^ℓ e^{iℓφ} with sufficient fidelity that the nonlinear parametric interaction faithfully transfers them to the MIR Fourier plane without introducing significant distortions or losses.","pith_extraction_headline":"Nonlinear upconversion imprints vortex patterns to enable tunable high-order edge differentiation in mid-infrared light at 3 micrometers."},"references":{"count":41,"sample":[{"doi":"","year":2020,"title":"Flat optics for image differentiation,","work_id":"be4da779-7acb-4d58-9036-fdb91fb107cb","ref_index":1,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"","year":2015,"title":"D. R. Solli, B. Jalali, “Analog optical computing,”Nat. Photonics9, 704 (2015)","work_id":"d21b76f2-07e9-476a-99bb-609db7d85292","ref_index":2,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"","year":2020,"title":"Metasurface enabled quantum edge detection,","work_id":"4beb55b5-a2f1-49a4-a687-37a2c85e180a","ref_index":3,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"","year":2024,"title":"Advances in information processing and biological imaging using flat optics,","work_id":"1e7452dd-63a7-45fe-8c0c-69304ae458fb","ref_index":4,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"","year":2022,"title":"Computing metasurfaces for all-optical image processing: a brief review,","work_id":"8daa75e8-45f0-4e7d-b84c-8ee9fe2c0802","ref_index":5,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false}],"resolved_work":41,"snapshot_sha256":"c013f39b4a2a7ecd7adcdfa172c9a5d5eec2b8b9434c5d3f50166ae94ec98c94","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}