Long-distance ghost imaging with an almost non-diffracting Lorentz source in atmospheric turbulence

Abstract Ghost imaging (GI) through a turbulent atmosphere with a new kind of Lorentz-shaped incoherent source is investigated. It is well known that the diffraction effect of a Lorentz beam is more robust to propagation distance than a Gaussian beam of the same beam size, which may be helpful for long-distance imaging through turbulence or scattering media. Here, an incoherent Lorentz source is first applied in a GI system to realize long-distance imaging through atmospheric turbulence. Based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel principle, an imaging formula for GI through turbulence with an incoherent Lorentz source is developed theoretically. The effects of the propagation distance and turbulent strength on the imaging quality are also studied numerically in detail. Compared with the widely used Gaussian sources, we find that the resolution of the GI system can be significantly improved by using an incoherent Lorentz source, especially under long-distance imaging conditions. Our work may thus have found a new way to improve the quality of GI through turbulence by using an incoherent Lorentz source, which can promote real applications of GI in the long-distance imaging field, such as remote sensing and astronomical observation.