Observation of spatial quantum correlations in the macroscopic regime

Spatial quantum correlations in the transverse degree of freedom promise to enhance optical resolution, image detection, and quantum communications through parallel quantum information encoding. In particular, the ability to observe these spatial quantum correlations in a single shot will enable such enhancements in applications that require real time imaging, such as particle tracking and in-situ imaging of atomic systems. Here, we report on the direct measurement of spatial quantum correlations in the macroscopic regime in single images using an electron-multiplying charge-coupled device camera. A four-wave mixing process in hot rubidium atoms is used to generate narrowband-bright-entangled pulsed twin-beams of light with $\sim10^8$ photons in each beam. Owing to momentum conservation in this process, the twin-beams are momentum correlated, which leads to spatial quantum correlations in far field. We show around 2 dB of spatial quantum noise reduction with respect to the shot noise limit. The spatial squeezing is present over a large range of total number of photons in the pulsed twin-beams.