Transport-of-intensity computational ghost imaging

Computational ghost imaging (CGI) allows us to obtain a sample image under a low signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) condition. However, phase information cannot be obtained by CGI; therefore, observation of transparent objects such as living cells is difficult. Although interferometry has been applied to CGI for phase retrieval, its optical setup is cumbersome. In this paper, an alternative approach, which is based on a transport-of-intensity equation, is proposed. Compared with conventional interferometric methods, the optical setup of the proposed method is robust because it does not require additional optical elements. The proposed method achieves phase retrieval by slight modification of the standard CGI setup. Numerical and optical experiments with low SNR confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America