Image-Enhanced Pseudo-Thermal Ghost Imaging with Hybrid Speckle Pattern

In this study, the influence of hybrid speckle patterns on the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and resolution in pseudo-thermal ghost imaging (PGI) was examined based on the object dimensions in the macroscopic and microscopic regimes. This research shows that an enhanced scaling of the ghost image CNR and resolution from that of the hybrid speckle pattern was observed with the increase in speckle size for a macroscopic object, compared with the use of single-size speckle patterns. For microscopic objects, the hybrid speckle pattern also offered the advantage of retrieving ghost images even if the CNR followed the same trend as the resolution. These results were verified using two different slits with the same transmitted area. In addition, the numerical analysis revealed that the interference of the hybrid speckle pattern was the major factor for a better CNR. Based on these findings, the novel hybrid speckle pattern found in this research provides a possible way for future experiments in PGI to regulate hybrid speckle patterns to obtain a better ghost image quality.