Ghost imaging in reflection: Resolution, contrast, and signal-to-noise ratio

Abstract

Ghost imaging is a transverse imaging technique that relies on the correlation between a pair of light fields, one that has interacted with the object to be imaged and one that has not. Most ghost imaging experiments have been performed in transmission, and virtually all ghost imaging theory has addressed the transmissive case. Yet stand-off sensing applications require that the object be imaged in reflection. We use Gaussian-state analysis to develop expressions for the spatial resolution, image contrast, and signal-to-noise ratio for reflective ghost imaging with a pseudothermal light source and a rough-surfaced object that creates target-returns with fullydeveloped speckle. We compare our results to the corresponding behavior seen in transmissive ghost imaging, and we develop performance results for the reflective form of computational ghost imaging. We also provide a preliminary stand-off sensing performance comparison between reflective ghost imaging and a conventional direct-detection laser radar.