Abstract. The images obtained in ghost imaging with pseudo-thermal light sources are highly dependent on the spatial coherence properties of the incident light. Pseudo-thermal light is often created by reducing the coherence length of a coherent source by passing it through a turbid mixture of scattering spheres. We describe a model for simulating ghost images obtained with such partially coherent light, using a wave-transport model to calculate the influence of the scattering on initially coherent light. The model is able to predict important properties of the pseudo-thermal source, such as the coherence length and the amplitude of the residual unscattered component of the light which influence the resolution and visibility of the final ghost image. We show that the residual ballistic component introduces an additional background in the reconstructed image, and the spatial resolution obtainable depends on the size of the scattering spheres.

Received 8 June 2007
Published 24 August 2007