Arbitrary-order lensless ghost imaging with thermal light

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the first arbitrary-order lensless ghost imaging with thermal light, showing that higher-order correlations improve image visibility but require longer integration times due to increased fluctuations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for arbitrary Nth-order lensless ghost imaging with thermal light using only two intensity recordings, enhancing image visibility.

Findings

Image visibility increases with higher correlation order N.

Higher-order correlations demand longer integration times.

First demonstration of arbitrary Nth-order ghost imaging with thermal light.

Abstract

Arbitrary Nth-order ($N\geq2$) lensless ghost imaging with thermal light has been performed for the first time by only recording the intensities in two optical paths. It is shown that the image visibility can be dramatically enhanced as the order N increases. It is also found that longer integration times are required for higher-order correlation measurements as N increases, due to the increased fluctuations of higher-order intensity correlation functions.