Can two-photon correlation of chaotic light be considered as correlation of intensity fluctuations?

Robust compressed ghost imaging against environmental influence factors

Ghost imaging based on sparse sampling is sensitive to the environmental influence factors frequently encountered in practice, such as instrumental drift and ambient light change, which could cause degradation of image quality. In this manuscript, we report a robust compressed sensing technique which could effectively reduce the influence of measurement errors on image quality. For demonstration purposes, we implement the proposed technique to ghost imaging, namely differential compressed sensing ghost imaging (DCSGI). By applying differential measurements n times, the first n Taylor expansion polynomials of the error could be eliminated in n-order DCSGI. It has been verified theoretically and experimentally that DCSGI works well with typical errors which exists in the realities of ghost imaging applications, while the conventional approach can hardly. In addition, the proposed technique may also replace conventional compressed sensing in other applications for anti-interference high-quality reconstruction.

Self-Modulated Ghost Imaging in Dynamic Scattering Media

In this paper, self-modulated ghost imaging (SMGI) in a surrounded scattering medium is proposed. Different from traditional ghost imaging, SMGI can take advantage of the dynamic scattering medium that originally affects the imaging quality and generate pseudo-thermal light through the dynamic scattering of free particles' Brownian motion in the scattering environment for imaging. Theoretical analysis and simulation were used to establish the relationship between imaging quality and particle concentration. An experimental setup was also built to verify the feasibility of the SMGI. Compared with the reconstructed image quality and evaluation indexes of traditional ghost imaging, SMGI has better image quality, which demonstrates a promising future in dynamic high-scattering media such as dense fog and turbid water.

Correlated-photon imaging at 10 volumetric images per second

The correlation properties of light provide an outstanding tool to overcome the limitations of traditional imaging techniques. A relevant case is represented by correlation plenoptic imaging (CPI), a quantum-inspired volumetric imaging protocol employing spatio-temporally correlated photons from either entangled or chaotic sources to address the main limitations of conventional light-field imaging, namely, the poor spatial resolution and the reduced change of perspective for 3D imaging. However, the application potential of high-resolution imaging modalities relying on photon correlations is limited, in practice, by the need to collect a large number of frames. This creates a gap, unacceptable for many relevant tasks, between the time performance of correlated-light imaging and that of traditional imaging methods. In this article, we address this issue by exploiting the photon number correlations intrinsic in chaotic light, combined with a cutting-edge ultrafast sensor made of a large array of single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs). This combination of source and sensor is embedded within a novel single-lens CPI scheme enabling to acquire 10 volumetric images per second. Our results place correlated-photon imaging at a competitive edge and prove its potential in practical applications.

Light-field microscopy with correlated beams for high-resolution volumetric imaging

Light-field microscopy represents a promising solution for microscopic volumetric imaging, thanks to its capability to encode information on multiple planes in a single acquisition. This is achieved through its peculiar simultaneous capture of information on light spatial distribution and propagation direction. However, state-of-the-art light-field microscopes suffer from a detrimental loss of spatial resolution compared to standard microscopes. In this article, we experimentally demonstrate the working principle of a new scheme, called Correlation Light-field Microscopy (CLM), where the correlation between two light beams is exploited to achieve volumetric imaging with a resolution that is only limited by diffraction. In CLM, a correlation image is obtained by measuring intensity correlations between a large number of pairs of ultra-short frames; each pair of frames is illuminated by the two correlated beams, and is exposed for a time comparable with the source coherence time. We experimentally show the capability of CLM to recover the information contained in out-of-focus planes within three-dimensional test targets and biomedical phantoms. In particular, we demonstrate the improvement of the depth of field enabled by CLM with respect to a conventional microscope characterized by the same resolution. Moreover, the multiple perspectives contained in a single correlation image enable reconstructing over 50 distinguishable transverse planes within a 1 mm³ sample.

Ghost imaging through scattering medium by utilizing scattered light

One superior characteristic of ghost imaging (GI) compared to conventional imaging is that GI is immune to the scattering medium in the object-to-detector path. However, the imaging quality decreases when a scattering medium exists between the beam splitter and the object. Based on the fact that the light interfered with by the scattering medium also contains information about the object after it is illuminated, in this paper, we demonstrate utilizing scattered light for image reconstruction by placing a scattering medium with certain characteristics in the reference path. Experimental results show that the contrast-to-noise ratio and visibility are obviously improved.

High-resolution dynamic imaging system based on a 2D optical phased array

We propose an imaging system with scanning feedback of an optical phased array (OPA) for moving targets with unknown speed. The system combines OPA scanning velocimetry capability with OPA-based ghost imaging to enable trajectory tracking of targets moving within the field-of-view of the system while accomplishing image reconstruction. The proposed system can perform image reconstruction for millimeter-scale moving targets placed up to 20 m away from the camera. The system can be applied in areas such as autonomous driving and high-resolution imaging.

Quantum discord of thermal two-photon orbital angular momentum state: mimicking teleportation to transmit an image

We formulate a density matrix to fully describe two-photon state within a thermal light source in the photon orbital angular momentum (OAM) Hilbert space. We prove the separability, i.e., zero entanglement of the thermal two-photon state. Still, we reveal the hidden quantum correlations in terms of geometric measures of discord. By mimicking the original protocol of quantum teleportation, we demonstrate that the non-zero quantum discord can be utilized to transmit a high-dimensional OAM state at the single-photon level. It is found that albeit the low fidelity of teleportation due to the inherent component of maximally mixed state, the information of all parameters that characterize the original state can still be extracted from the teleported one. Besides, we demonstrate that the multiple repetitions of the protocol, enable the transmission of a complex-amplitude light field, e.g., an optical image, regardless of being accompanied with a featureless background. We also distinguish our scheme of optical image transmission from that of ghost imaging.

Two-photon X-ray ghost microscope

This article presents a non-classical imaging mechanism that produces a diffraction-limited and magnified ghost image of the internal structure of an object through the measurement of intensity fluctuation correlation formed by two-photon interference. In principle, the lensless X-ray ghost imaging mechanism may achieve a spatial resolution determined by the wavelength and the angular diameter of the X-ray source, ∼λ/Δθ_s, with possible reduction caused by additional optics. In addition, it has the ability to image select "slices" deep within an object, which can be used for constructing 3D view of its internal structure.

X-ray imaging of fast dynamics with single-pixel detector

We demonstrate experimentally the ability to use a single-pixel detector for two-dimensional high-resolution x-ray imaging of fast dynamics. We image the rotation of a spinning chopper at 100 kHz and at spatial resolution of about 40 microns by using the computational ghost imaging approach. The technique we develop can be used for the imaging of fast dynamics of periodic and periodically stimulated effects with a large field of view and at low dose.

Ghost imaging based on Y-net: a dynamic coding and decoding approach

Ghost imaging incorporating deep learning technology has recently attracted much attention in the optical imaging field. However, deterministic illumination and multiple exposure are still essential in most scenarios. Here we propose a ghost imaging scheme based on a novel dynamic decoding deep learning framework (Y-net), which works well under both deterministic and indeterministic illumination. Benefited from the end-to-end characteristic of our network, the image of a sample can be achieved directly from the data collected by the detector. The sample is illuminated only once in the experiment, and the spatial distribution of the speckle encoding the sample in the experiment can be completely different from that of the simulation speckle in training, as long as the statistical characteristics of the speckle remain unchanged. This approach is particularly important to high-resolution x-ray ghost imaging applications due to its potential for improving image quality and reducing radiation damage.

Adaptive ghost imaging

Traditional ghost imaging applies correlated algorithms to reconstruct the image of an object. However, it fundamentally requires some spatial distributions of the correlated light beam, e.g. random illumination, which hardly exists in reality. Here, different from the localized analysis used in the traditional ghost imaging, a spatial and temporal global analysis of the whole measurements is proposed. Therefore, we demonstrate a new ghost imaging modality, called adaptive ghost imaging (AGI), that utilizes the difference of successive frames as the correlation pattern to generate the image. As a result, AGI can work with any varying illuminations including, but not limited to, random illumination. We believe that AGI will make the ghost imaging easier, more applicable and closer to reality.

Instant ghost imaging: algorithm and on-chip implementation

Ghost imaging (GI) is an imaging technique that uses the correlation between two light beams to reconstruct the image of an object. Conventional GI algorithms require large memory space to store the measured data and perform complicated offline calculations, limiting practical applications of GI. Here we develop an instant ghost imaging (IGI) technique with a differential algorithm and an implemented high-speed on-chip IGI hardware system. This algorithm uses the signal between consecutive temporal measurements to reduce the memory requirements without degradation of image quality compared with conventional GI algorithms. The on-chip IGI system can immediately reconstruct the image once the measurement finishes; there is no need to rely on post-processing or offline reconstruction. This system can be developed into a realtime imaging system. These features make IGI a faster, cheaper, and more compact alternative to a conventional GI system and make it viable for practical applications of GI.

Turbulence-free two-photon double-slit interference with coherent and incoherent light

This article reports a study on a turbulence-free Young's double-slit interferometer. When the environmental turbulence blurs out the classic Young's double-slit interference completely, a two-photon interference pattern is still observable from the measurement of intensity or photon number fluctuation correlation. This two-photon interferometer always produces a turbulence-free interference pattern, when the double-slit interferometer is utilizing both first-order spatially incoherent light and spatially coherent light. This type of two-photon interferometer establishes new capabilities in optical observations and sensing measurements that require high sensitivity and stability.

Bi-frequency 3D ghost imaging with Haar wavelet transform

Recently, ghost imaging has been attracting attention because its mechanism could lead to many applications inaccessible to conventional imaging methods. However, it is challenging for high-contrast and high-resolution imaging, due to its low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the demand of high sampling rate in detection. To circumvent these challenges, we propose a ghost imaging scheme that exploits Haar wavelets as illuminating patterns with a bi-frequency light projecting system and frequency-selecting single-pixel detectors. This method provides a theoretically 100% image contrast and high-detection SNR, which reduces the requirement of high dynamic range of detectors, enabling high-resolution ghost imaging. Moreover, it can highly reduce the sampling rate (far below Nyquist limit) for a sparse object by adaptively abandoning unnecessary patterns during the measurement. These characteristics are experimentally verified with a resolution of 512×512 and a sampling rate lower than 5%. A high-resolution (1000×1000×1000) 3D reconstruction of an object is also achieved from multi-angle images.

Learning from simulation: An end-to-end deep-learning approach for computational ghost imaging

Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques such as deep learning (DL) for computational imaging usually require to experimentally collect a large set of labeled data to train a neural network. Here we demonstrate that a practically usable neural network for computational imaging can be trained by using simulation data. We take computational ghost imaging (CGI) as an example to demonstrate this method. We develop a one-step end-to-end neural network, trained with simulation data, to reconstruct two-dimensional images directly from experimentally acquired one-dimensional bucket signals, without the need of the sequence of illumination patterns. This is in particular useful for image transmission through quasi-static scattering media as little care is needed to take to simulate the scattering process when generating the training data. We believe that the concept of training using simulation data can be used in various DL-based solvers for general computational imaging.

Single-Pixel Imaging and Its Application in Three-Dimensional Reconstruction: A Brief Review

Whereas modern digital cameras use a pixelated detector array to capture images, single-pixel imaging reconstructs images by sampling a scene with a series of masks and associating the knowledge of these masks with the corresponding intensity measured with a single-pixel detector. Though not performing as well as digital cameras in conventional visible imaging, single-pixel imaging has been demonstrated to be advantageous in unconventional applications, such as multi-wavelength imaging, terahertz imaging, X-ray imaging, and three-dimensional imaging. The developments and working principles of single-pixel imaging are reviewed, a mathematical interpretation is given, and the key elements are analyzed. The research works of three-dimensional single-pixel imaging and their potential applications are further reviewed and discussed.

Correlation Plenoptic Imaging: An Overview

Plenoptic imaging (PI) enables refocusing, depth-of-field (DOF) extension and 3D visualization, thanks to its ability to reconstruct the path of light rays from the lens to the image. However, in state-of-the-art plenoptic devices, these advantages come at the expenses of the image resolution, which is always well above the diffraction limit defined by the lens numerical aperture (NA). To overcome this limitation, we have proposed exploiting the spatio-temporal correlations of light, and to modify the ghost imaging scheme by endowing it with plenoptic properties. This approach, named Correlation Plenoptic Imaging (CPI), enables pushing both resolution and DOF to the fundamental limit imposed by wave-optics. In this paper, we review the methods to perform CPI both with chaotic light and with entangled photon pairs. Both simulations and a proof-of-principle experimental demonstration of CPI will be presented.

Effects of Atmospheric Turbulence on Lensless Ghost Imaging with Partially Coherent Light

Ghost imaging with partially coherent light through two kinds of atmospheric turbulences: monostatic turbulence and bistatic turbulence, is studied, both theoretically and experimentally. Based on the optical coherence theory and the extended Huygens–Fresnel integral, the analytical imaging formulae in two kinds of turbulence have been derived with the help of a tensor method. The visibility and quality of the ghost image in two different atmospheric turbulences are discussed in detail. Our results reveal that in bistatic turbulence, the visibility and quality of the image decrease with the increase of the turbulence strength, while in monostatic turbulence, the image quality remains invariant when turbulence strength changes in a certain range, only the visibility decreases with the increase of the strength of turbulence. Furthermore, we carry out experimental demonstration of lensless ghost imaging through monostatic and bistatic turbulences in the laboratory, respectively. The experiment results agree well with the theoretical predictions. Our results solve the controversy about the influence of atmospheric turbulence on ghost imaging.

Diffraction-Limited Plenoptic Imaging with Correlated Light

Traditional optical imaging faces an unavoidable trade-off between resolution and depth of field (DOF). To increase resolution, high numerical apertures (NAs) are needed, but the associated large angular uncertainty results in a limited range of depths that can be put in sharp focus. Plenoptic imaging was introduced a few years ago to remedy this trade-off. To this aim, plenoptic imaging reconstructs the path of light rays from the lens to the sensor. However, the improvement offered by standard plenoptic imaging is practical and not fundamental: The increased DOF leads to a proportional reduction of the resolution well above the diffraction limit imposed by the lens NA. In this Letter, we demonstrate that correlation measurements enable pushing plenoptic imaging to its fundamental limits of both resolution and DOF. Namely, we demonstrate maintaining the imaging resolution at the diffraction limit while increasing the depth of field by a factor of 7. Our results represent the theoretical and experimental basis for the effective development of promising applications of plenoptic imaging.

Negative influence of detector noise on ghost imaging based on the photon counting technique at low light levels

The influence of detector noise on ghost imaging (GI) is investigated at low light levels. Based on the characteristics of the additive detector noise, we establish the analytical model and display the ghost images through numerical and experimental demonstrations. It is shown that the contrast-to-noise ratio and visibility of reconstructed images are sharply affected by the detector noise. Following the increase of the ratio of average signal intensity to the average noise, the quality of reconstructions is enhanced. To reduce the measurement numbers and, thus, shorten the consuming time without sacrificing the imaging quality, we propose a sorting technique in the traditional GI algorithm for a high quality image reconstruction. The results demonstrated here will be favorable to the applications of low-light-level imaging.

Characterization of two distant double-slits by chaotic light second-order interference

We present the experimental characterization of two distant double-slit masks illuminated by chaotic light, in the absence of first-order imaging and interference. The scheme exploits second-order interference of light propagating through two indistinguishable pairs of disjoint optical paths passing through the masks of interest. The proposed technique leads to a deeper understanding of biphoton interference and coherence, and opens the way to the development of novel schemes for retrieving information on the relative position and the spatial structure of distant objects, which is of interest in remote sensing, biomedical imaging, as well as monitoring of laser ablation, when first-order imaging and interference are not feasible.

Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect without two-photon interference in photon counting regime

From quantum point of view, Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect is a result of constructive-destructive two-photon interference. There should be no Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect if there was no two-photon interference. In this paper, we observed Hanbury Brown- Twiss effect in a specially designed experiment, in which two-photon interference is impossible by keeping only one two-photon probability amplitude in the experimental scheme. However, our experimental results can still be interpreted by Glauber's quantum optical coherence theory. The researches in our paper are helpful to understand the physics of the second-order coherence of light, especially the physics of Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect.

Flexible Two-Photon Interference Fringes with Thermal Light

Flexible interference patterning is an important tool for adaptable measurement precisions. We report on experimental results of controllable two-photon interference fringes with thermal light in an incoherent rotational shearing interferometer. The two incoherent beams in the interferometer are orthogonally polarized, and their wavefront distributions differ only in an angle of rotation. The spacings and directions of the two-photon interference fringes vary with the rotation angle, as illustrated in three cases of two-photon correlation measurements in experiment.

Image quality recovery in binary ghost imaging by adding random noise

When the sampling data of ghost imaging are recorded with less bits, i.e., experiencing quantization, a decline in image quality is observed. The fewer bits that are used, the worse the image one gets. Dithering, which adds suitable random noise to the raw data before quantization, is proved to be capable of compensating image quality decline effectively, even for the extreme binary sampling case. A brief explanation and parameter optimization of dithering are given.

Spatial interference between pairs of disjoint optical paths with a single chaotic source

We demonstrate a novel second-order spatial interference effect between two indistinguishable pairs of disjoint optical paths from a single chaotic source. Beside providing a deeper understanding of the physics of multi-photon interference and coherence, the effect enables retrieving information on both the spatial structure and the relative position of two distant double-pinhole masks, in the absence of first order coherence. We also demonstrate the exploitation of the phenomenon for simulating quantum logic gates, including a controlled-NOT gate operation.

Single-photon-counting polarization ghost imaging

We proposed a method for polarization ghost imaging based on single photon counting. With the time-correlated single-photon-counting technique, we can construct photon time distribution histograms and select a distance gate to accurately estimate the light intensity. Experiments are performed to realize discrimination of the object from the background of different materials in weak illumination. In the situation that ambient noise is significantly stronger than the signal, our method still can retrieve an image as ambient noise is mostly filtered out through distance gate selection. We suppose that our method may facilitate applications in remote target discrimination and biological imaging.

Studying fermionic ghost imaging with independent photons

Ghost imaging with thermal fermions is calculated via two-particle interference based on the superposition principle for different alternatives in Feynman's path integral theory. It is found that ghost imaging with fully polarized thermal fermions can be simulated by ghost imaging with fully polarized thermal bosons and classical particles. Photons in pseudothermal light are employed to experimentally study fermionic ghost imaging. Ghost imaging with thermal bosons and fermions is discussed based on the point-to-point (spot) correlation between the object and image planes. The employed method offers an efficient guidance for future ghost imaging with real thermal fermions, which may also be generalized to study other second-order interference phenomena with fermions.

Super-resolution imaging using the spatial-frequency filtered intensity fluctuation correlation

We report an experimental demonstration of a nonclassical imaging mechanism with super-resolving power beyond the Rayleigh limit. When the classical image is completely blurred out due to the use of a small imaging lens, by taking advantage of the intensity fluctuation correlation of thermal light, the demonstrated camera recovered the image of the resolution testing gauge. This method could be adapted to long distance imaging, such as satellite imaging, which requires large diameter camera lenses to achieve high image resolution.

Multi-scale Adaptive Computational Ghost Imaging

In some cases of imaging, wide spatial range and high spatial resolution are both required, which requests high performance of detection devices and huge resource consumption for data processing. We propose and demonstrate a multi-scale adaptive imaging method based on the idea of computational ghost imaging, which can obtain a rough outline of the whole scene with a wide range then accordingly find out the interested parts and achieve high-resolution details of those parts, by controlling the field of view and the transverse coherence width of the pseudo-thermal field illuminated on the scene with a spatial light modulator. Compared to typical ghost imaging, the resource consumption can be dramatically reduced using our scheme.

Fourier-Transform Ghost Imaging with Hard X Rays

Knowledge gained through x-ray crystallography fostered structural determination of materials and greatly facilitated the development of modern science and technology in the past century. However, it is only applied to crystalline structures and cannot resolve noncrystalline materials. Here we demonstrate a novel lensless Fourier-transform ghost imaging method with pseudothermal hard x rays that extends x-ray crystallography to noncrystalline samples. By measuring the second-order intensity correlation function of the light, Fourier-transform diffraction pattern of a complex amplitude sample is achieved at the Fresnel region in our experiment and the amplitude and phase distributions of the sample in the spatial domain are retrieved successfully. For the first time, ghost imaging is experimentally realized with x rays. Since a highly coherent x-ray source is not required, the method can be implemented with laboratory x-ray sources and it also provides a potential solution for lensless diffraction imaging with fermions, such as neutrons and electrons where intensive coherent sources usually are not available.

Photon-statistics-based classical ghost imaging with one single detector

We demonstrate a novel ghost imaging (GI) scheme based on one single-photon-counting detector with subsequent photon statistics analysis. The key idea is that instead of measuring correlations between the object and reference beams such as in standard GI schemes, the light of the two beams is superimposed. The photon statistics analysis of this mixed light allows us to determine the photon number distribution as well as to calculate the central second-order correlation coefficient. The image information is obtained as a function of the spatial resolution of the reference beam. The performance of this photon-statistics-based GI system with one single detector (PS-GI) is investigated in terms of visibility and resolution. Finally, the knowledge of the complete photon statistics allows easy access to higher correlation coefficients such that we are able to perform here third- and fourth-order GI. The PS-GI concept can be seen as a complement to already existing GI technologies thus enabling a broader dissemination of GI as a superior metrology technique, paving the road for new applications in particular with advanced photon counting detectors.

Correlation Plenoptic Imaging

Plenoptic imaging is a promising optical modality that simultaneously captures the location and the propagation direction of light in order to enable three-dimensional imaging in a single shot. However, in standard plenoptic imaging systems, the maximum spatial and angular resolutions are fundamentally linked; thereby, the maximum achievable depth of field is inversely proportional to the spatial resolution. We propose to take advantage of the second-order correlation properties of light to overcome this fundamental limitation. In this Letter, we demonstrate that the correlation in both momentum and position of chaotic light leads to the enhanced refocusing power of correlation plenoptic imaging with respect to standard plenoptic imaging.

Ultrabroadband ghost imaging exploiting optoelectronic amplified spontaneous emission and two-photon detection

Ghost imaging (GI) is one of the recent fascinating and probably counterintuitive topics of quantum optics. Here, we present an alternative classical GI scheme using spectrally ultrabroadband amplified spontaneous emission from an optoelectronic quantum dot based superluminescent diode source. This light source exhibits highly incoherent properties regarding both first- and second-order correlations with a 70 nm-wide optical spectrum as well as thermal-like photon statistics. Exploiting a two-photon-absorption detection method, we demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a GI experiment handling the corresponding femtosecond correlation timescales. By introducing compact broadband light sources to GI, this work contributes toward practical application of GI.

Sinusoidal ghost imaging

We introduce sinusoidal ghost imaging (SGI), which uses 2D orthogonal sinusoidal patterns instead of random patterns in "computational ghost imaging" (CGI). Simulations and experiments are performed. In comparison with the"differential ghost imaging" algorithm that was used to improve the SNR of ghost imaging, results of SGI show about 3 orders of magnitude higher SNR, which can be reconstructed even with a much smaller number of patterns. More importantly, based on the results, SGI provides the great opportunity to generate innate processed images by predefined selection of patterns. This can speed up detection process considerably and paves the way for real applications.

Evaluation criterion of thermal light ghost imaging based on the receiver operating characteristic analysis

The performances of different thermal ghost imaging (GI) algorithms are compared in an experiment of computational GI using a digital micromirror device. Here we present a rather different evaluation criterion named receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis that serves as the performance of merit for the quantitative comparison. A ROC curve is created by plotting the true positive rate against the false positive rate at various threshold settings. Both theoretical analysis and experimental results demonstrate that the ROC curve and the area under the curve are better and more intuitive indicators of the performance of the GI, compared with conventional evaluation methods. Additionally, for examining gray-scale objects, the calculation of the volume under the ROC surface is analyzed and serves as a performance metric. Our scheme should attract general interest and open exciting prospects for ROC analysis in thermal GI.

High quality computational ghost imaging using multi-fluorescent screen

An alternative scheme for improvement of computational ghost imaging (GI) features is proposed based on a three-color fluorescent screen. While a monochrome fluorescent screen does not enhance the quality of ghost images in comparison with the ordinary GI technique, employment of a multi-fluorescent screen can be very effective. It is shown that the visibility, signal to noise ratio (SNR), and contrast to noise ratio (CNR) of the resultant ghost images are improved when a multi-fluorescent screen is used. In particular, the results prove 65%, 36%, and 95% improvement for visibility, SNR, and CNR over 2000 shots, respectively. Also shown is the possibility of reconstructing ghost images over a reduced number of shots (as small as 25) by increasing the number of colors on the screen, whereas ordinary GI is not possible with such a small number of shots. The results from simulations are checked with conducted experiments, and a good agreement between them is observed.

Super sub-wavelength patterns in photon coincidence detection

High-precision measurements implemented with light are desired in all fields of science. However, light acts as a wave, and the Rayleigh criterion in classical optics yields a diffraction limit that prevents obtaining a resolution smaller than the wavelength. Sub-wavelength interference has potential application in lithography because it beats the classical Rayleigh resolution limit. Here, we carefully study second-order correlation theory to establish the physics behind sub-wavelength interference in photon coincidence detection. A Young's double slit experiment with pseudo-thermal light is performed to test the second-order correlation pattern. The results show that when two point detectors are scanned in different ways, super sub-wavelength interference patterns can be obtained. We then provide a theoretical explanation for this surprising result, and demonstrate that this explanation is also suitable for the results found for entangled light. Furthermore, we discuss the limitations of these types of super sub-wavelength interference patterns in quantum lithography.

Role of intensity fluctuations in third-order correlation double-slit interference of thermal light

A third-order double-slit interference experiment with a pseudothermal light source in the high-intensity limit has been performed by actually recording the intensities in three optical paths. It is shown that not only can the visibility be dramatically enhanced compared to the second-order case as previously theoretically predicted and shown experimentally, but also that the higher visibility is a consequence of the contribution of third-order correlation interaction terms, which is equal to the sum of all contributions from second-order correlation. It is interesting that, when the two reference detectors are scanned in opposite directions, negative values for the third-order correlation term of the intensity fluctuations may appear. The phenomenon can be completely explained by the theory of classical statistical optics and is the first concrete demonstration of the influence of the third-order correlation terms.

Ghost imaging without discord

Ragy and Adesso argue that quantum discord is involved in the formation of a pseudothermal ghost image. We show that quantum discord plays no role in spatial light modulator ghost imaging, i.e., ghost-image formation based on structured illumination realized with laser light that has undergone spatial light modulation by the output from a pseudorandom number generator. Our analysis thus casts doubt on the degree to which quantum discord is necessary for ghost imaging.

Object authentication in computational ghost imaging with the realizations less than 5% of Nyquist limit

Ghost imaging has attracted much attention, in which the object can be reconstructed by using the correlation of intensity fluctuations. It is well known that a large number of realizations (such as 5000 or even 20,000) are usually required for object reconstructions in ghost imaging. In this Letter, we demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, how the reconstructed object can be authenticated using the significantly small number of realizations (i.e., less than 5% of Nyquist limit) in computational ghost imaging. The main objective for our study is to authenticate the object reconstructed by using the small number of realizations rather than to directly extract the high-fidelity object.

Two-wavelength ghost imaging through atmospheric turbulence

Recent work has indicated that ghost imaging might find useful application in standoff sensing where atmospheric turbulence is a serious problem. There has been theoretical study of ghost imaging in the presence of turbulence. However, most work has addressed signal-wavelength ghost imaging. Two-wavelength ghost imaging through atmospheric turbulence is theoretically studied in this paper. Based on the extended Huygens-Fresnel integral, the analytical expressions describing atmospheric turbulence effects on the point spread function (PSF) and field of view (FOV) are derived. The computational case is also reported.

Adaptive optical ghost imaging through atmospheric turbulence

We demonstrate for the first time (to our knowledge) that a high-quality image can still be obtained in atmospheric turbulence by applying adaptive optical ghost imaging (AOGI) system even when conventional ghost imaging system fails to produce an image. The performance of AOGI under different strength of atmospheric turbulence is investigated by simulation. The influence of adaptive optics system with different numbers of adaptive mirror elements on obtained image quality is also studied.

Nature of light correlations in ghost imaging

We investigate the nature of correlations in Gaussian light sources used for ghost imaging. We adopt methods from quantum information theory to distinguish genuinely quantum from classical correlations. Combining a microscopic analysis of speckle-speckle correlations with an effective coarse-grained description of the beams, we show that quantum correlations exist even in 'classical'-like thermal light sources, and appear relevant for the implementation of ghost imaging in the regime of low illumination. We further demonstrate that the total correlations in the thermal source beams effectively determine the quality of the imaging, as quantified by the signal-to-noise ratio.

Storage and retrieval of ghost images in hot atomic vapor

Ghost imaging is an imaging technique in which the image of an object is revealed only in the correlation measurement between two beams of light, whereas the individual measurements contain no imaging information. Here, we experimentally demonstrate storage and retrieval of ghost images in hot atomic rubidium vapor. Since ghost imaging requires (quantum or classical) multimode spatial correlation between two beams of light, our experiment shows that the spatially multimode correlation, a second-order correlation property of light, can indeed be preserved during the storage-retrieval process. Our work, thus, opens up new possibilities for quantum and classical two-photon imaging, all-optical image processing, and quantum communication.

Indistinguishable photon pairs from independent true chaotic sources

Indistinguishability of events in quantum mechanics is manifested by interference between their probability amplitudes. We report a unique kind of interference occurring between indistinguishable events of photon-pair emission, where each photon of the pair is emitted from a distinct true chaotic light source and has a different energy. The indistinguishability results in an interference which is observed as an ultrafast modulation of the second-order coherence function, measured on a femtosecond time scale by two-photon absorption in a semiconductor photomultiplier tube.

Classical far-field phase-sensitive ghost imaging

We report the first (to our knowledge) far-field ghost images formed with phase-sensitive classical-state light and compare them with ghost images of the same object formed with conventional phase-insensitive classical-state light. To generate signal and reference beams with phase-sensitive cross correlation, we used a pair of synchronized spatial light modulators that imposed random, spatially varying, anticorrelated phase modulation on the outputs from 50-50 beam splitting of a laser beam. In agreement with theory, we found the phase-sensitive image to be inverted, whereas the phase-insensitive image is erect, with both having comparable spatial resolutions and signal-to-noise ratios.

Optical encryption based on computational ghost imaging

Ghost imaging is an optical technique in which the information of an object is encoded in the correlation of the intensity fluctuations of light. The computational version of this fascinating phenomenon emulates, offline, the optical propagation through the reference arm, enabling 3D visualization of a complex object whose transmitted light is measured by a bucket detector. In this Letter, we show how computational ghost imaging can be used to encrypt and transmit object information to a remote party. Important features, such as key compressibility and vulnerability to eavesdropping, are experimentally analyzed.

Differential ghost imaging

We present a new technique, differential ghost imaging (DGI), which dramatically enhances the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of imaging methods based on spatially correlated beams. DGI can measure the transmission function of an object in absolute units, with a SNR that can be orders of magnitude higher than the one achievable with the conventional ghost imaging (GI) analysis. This feature allows for the first time, to our knowledge, the imaging of weakly absorbing objects, which represents a breakthrough for GI applications. Theoretical analysis and experimental and numerical data assessing the performances of the technique are presented.

The correlation confocal microscope

A new type of confocal microscope is described which makes use of intensity correlations between spatially correlated beams of light. It is shown that this apparatus leads to significantly improved transverse resolution.