Optical correlator-based computational ghost imaging towards high-speed computational ghost imaging

Computational ghost imaging (CGI) has received increasing attention as a single pixel imaging technique. However, the application of the CGI technique to moving objects requires further investigation because it requires a large number of patterns at high speeds. In this study, we propose and experimentally demonstrate optical correlator-based CGI as a step towards high-speed CGI. Our optical correlator plays the role of a spatial light modulator and correlates a target object to known patterns of general computational imaging. We experimentally verified that the RMS error of the reconstructed images is similar to that of the numerical calculations. If one reconstructed image is acquired using 1000 random binary patterns, the imaging frame rate of 133.7 fps will be achieved. This provides high-speed CGI applicable to moving objects and other phenomena.