Thermal interaction-free ghost imaging

TL;DR

This paper introduces a thermal light-based ghost imaging method that minimizes sample damage and noise, enabling high-quality, non-destructive imaging suitable for light-sensitive samples, by leveraging quantum Zeno effects and eliminating complex photon sources.

Contribution

It presents a novel interaction-free ghost imaging scheme using thermal light and quantum Zeno effects, reducing light dose and noise without entangled photons or single-photon detectors.

Findings

Significantly reduces light absorption by the sample.

Enhances image quality compared to traditional ghost imaging.

Provides a cost-effective, non-destructive imaging approach.

Abstract

We propose an interaction-free ghost imaging scheme based on a thermal light source. By utilizing the quantum Zeno-like effect, our approach significantly reduces the light dose absorbed by the sample, thereby effectively preventing sample damage induced by light-matter interactions. Combined with the elimination of entangled photon sources and single-photon detectors, our approach enables significantly more photons to be utilized for image reconstruction, thereby markedly enhancing image quality compared to conventional ghost imaging. We further demonstrate active suppression of background noise via controllable photon loss. Our work offers a practical and cost-effective route to non-destructive, high-quality imaging for light-sensitive samples in fields such as life sciences.