Enhancement of spatial resolution of ghost imaging via localizing and thresholding

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to enhance the spatial resolution of ghost imaging by localizing reference beam spots and applying thresholding to measurements, achieving improvements comparable to conventional imaging.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach combining localization and thresholding to significantly improve ghost imaging resolution beyond traditional limits.

Findings

Resolution improved by a factor of √2 through localization.

Further enhancement achieved with thresholding.

Method matches conventional imaging resolution.

Abstract

In ghost imaging scheme, an illuminated light is split into test and reference beams which pass through two different optical systems respectively and an image is constructed by the second-order correlation between the two light beams. Since both the two light beams are all diffracted when passing through the optical systems, spatial resolution of ghost imaging is in general lower than that of a corresponding conventional imaging system. When Gaussian-shaped light spots are used to illuminate an object, randomly scanning across the object plane, in ghost imaging scheme, we show that by localizing central positions of the spots of the reference light beam, the resolution can be enhanced by a factor of $\sqrt{2}$ same as that of the corresponding conventional imaging system. We also find that the resolution can be further enhanced by setting an appropriate threshold to the bucket measurement of ghost imaging.