Light Field Ghost Imaging

TL;DR

This paper introduces Light Field Ghost Imaging, a novel technique that combines light correlations and light field principles to enable 3D imaging and refocusing without prior knowledge of object distance, expanding ghost imaging applications.

Contribution

The paper presents a new imaging method that overcomes limitations of traditional ghost imaging by allowing post-processing refocusing and 3D imaging without prior object distance knowledge.

Findings

Successfully demonstrated 3D imaging capability.

Enabled refocusing in post-processing.

Extended ghost imaging to unknown object distances.

Abstract

Techniques based on classical and quantum correlations in light beams, such as ghost imaging, allow us to overcome many limitations of conventional imaging and sensing protocols. Despite their advantages, applications of such techniques are often limited in practical scenarios where the position and the longitudinal extension of the target object are unknown. In this work, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel imaging technique, named Light Field Ghost Imaging, that exploits light correlations and light field imaging principles to enable going beyond the limitations of ghost imaging in a wide range of applications. Notably, our technique removes the requirement to have prior knowledge of the object distance allowing the possibility of refocusing in post-processing, as well as performing 3D imaging while retaining all the benefits of ghost imaging protocols.