Study On Second-order And High-order Correlated Imaging

The first correlated imaging experiment was observed by using entangled photon pairs,and entanglement was thought as a prerequisite for achieving correlated imaging. However, it has been proved both theoretically and experimentally in recent years that correlated imaging can also be performed with a thermal source. Thermal source is easily obtainable, so compared with correlated imaging with an entangled source, correlated imaging with a thermal source has more potential in practice. So correlated imaging with thermal light attracts much attention in recent years as a hot topic.In this dissertation, we work on the properties of correlated imaging with thermal light. The main content includes:1. We briefly review the origin and the history of correlated imaging. Then, we analyze the statistic model of thermal light theoretically, and we introduce pseudo-thermal light. Finally we analyze the theory of the coherent property of thermal light.2. We research on two schemes of second-order correlated imaging with thermal light: lensless ghost imaging and lensless Fourier-transform correlated imaging. It is shown that the light source, the optical system, the object imaged and the number of measurement have effects on the imaging quality such as the visibility and signal-to-noise (SNR), which are discussed in detail by numerical simulations.3. The effect of light polarization on thermal correlated imaging is studied. Based on the effect of the polarization state of polarized light and the degree of polarization on the second-order correlation function, the influence of light polarization on the visibility and SNR of correlated imaging with thermal light is investigated by use of statistical optics theory. It is shown that only the degree of polarization has effect on thermal correlated imaging, and the influence of the degree of polarization on the visibility and SNR of thermal correlated imaging is obtained.4. High-order lensless Fourier-transform correlated imaging with thermal light is investigated based on high-order correlated function. The detailed theory of high-order lensless Fourier-transform correlated imaging is analyzed, and the visibility and SNR of high-order lensless Fourier-transform correlated imaging are investigated. It is shown that although increasing the order of intensity correlation leads to the growth of the visibility of high-order lensless Fourier-transform correlated imaging, it also results in the decrease of the SNR.