Abstract
In this study, we examine the quality of microscale ghost images as a function of the measured histographic signal distribution of the speckle fields from a nonuniform pseudothermal light source. This research shows that the distribution of the detected signal level on each pixel of the camera plays a significant role in improving the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of pseudothermal ghost imaging. To our knowledge, the scaling of CNR with different pixel intensity distributions of the speckle fields is observed for the first time in the field of pseudothermal microscale ghost imaging. The experimental observations are in very good agreement with numerical analysis. Based on these findings, we can predict the settings for light sources that will maximize the CNR of microscale ghost images.
Highlights
Optical microscopic imaging is a versatile and widespread tool in modern life science, fundamental physics, and chemistry
We report on the influence of the speckles’ pixel intensity distribution from the nonuniform pseudothermal light source on the measured contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) in microscale ghost imaging
We have experimentally demonstrated the influence of the pixel intenthe full width at half maximum (FWHM) and the center position of the speckles’ pixel intensity distribution
Summary
Optical microscopic imaging is a versatile and widespread tool in modern life science, fundamental physics, and chemistry. Ghost imaging is one of the subfields of quantum imaging that exploits quantum or spatial intensity–fluctuation correlations to image objects with resolution, contrast, or other imaging criteria that can go beyond classical optics [1,2,3]. Theories and experiments have shown that both entangled photon interference and classical intensity–fluctuation correlations could be used for ghost imaging. In 1995, the first successful ghost imaging experiment relied on entangled photon pairs generated by spontaneous parametric downconversion [5]. This experiment was the first use of light containing spatial quantum correlations to illuminate an object to be imaged in quantum imaging. Bennink et al [6] presented an experimental demonstration of ghost imaging by using a pseudothermal light source
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