Holographic imaging through a scattering medium by diffuser-assisted statistical averaging

摘要

The ability to image through a scattering or diffusive medium such as tissue or hazy atmosphere is a goal which has garnered extensive attention from the scientific community. Existing imaging methods in this field make use of phase conjugation, time of flight, iterative wave-front shaping or statistical averaging approaches, which tend to be either time consuming or complicated to implement. We introduce a novel and practical way of statistical averaging which makes use of a rotating ground glass diffuser to nullify the adverse effects caused by speckle introduced by a first static diffuser / aberrator. This is a Fourier transform-based, holographic approach which demonstrates the ability to recover detailed images and shows promise for further remarkable improvement. The present experiments were performed with 2D flat images, but this method could be easily adapted for recovery of 3D extended object information. The simplicity of the approach makes it fast, reliable, and potentially scalable as a portable technology. Since imaging through a diffuser has direct applications in biomedicine and defense technologies this method may augment advanced imaging capabilities in many fields.