Davide Magatti

High-resolution ghost image and ghost diffraction experiments with thermal light.

High-resolution ghost image and ghost diffraction experiments are performed by using a single source of thermal-like speckle light divided by a beam splitter. Passing from the image to the diffraction result solely relies on changing the optical setup in the reference arm, while leaving untouched the object arm. The product of spatial resolutions of the ghost image and ghost diffraction experiments is shown to overcome a limit which was formerly thought to be achievable only with entangled photons.

Coherent imaging with pseudo-thermal incoherent light

We investigate experimentally fundamental properties of coherent ghost imaging using spatially incoherent beams generated from a pseudo-thermal source. A complementarity between the coherence of the beams and the correlation between them is demonstrated by showing a complementarity between ghost diffraction and ordinary diffraction patterns. In order for the ghost imaging scheme to work it is therefore crucial to have incoherent beams. The visibility of the information is shown for the ghost image to become better as the object size relative to the speckle size is decreased, and therefore a remarkable tradeoff between resolution and visibility exists. The experimental conclusions are backed up by both theory and numerical simulations.

Fast multi-tau real-time software correlator for dynamic light scattering

We present a PC-based multi-tau software correlator suitable for processing dynamic light-scattering data. The correlator is based on a simple algorithm that was developed with the graphical programming language LabVIEW, according to which the incoming data are processed on line without any storage on the hard disk. By use of a standard photon-counting unit, a National Instruments Model 6602-PCI timer-counter, and a 550-MHz Pentium III personal computer, correlation functions can be worked out in full real-time over time scales of ~5 mus and in batch processing down to time scales of ~300 ns. The latter limit is imposed by the speed of data transfer between the counter and the PCs memory and thus is prone to be progressively reduced with future technological development. Testing of the correlator and evaluation of its performances were carried out by use of dilute solutions of calibrated polystyrene spheres. Our results indicate that the correlation functions are determined with such precision that the corresponding particle diameters can be recovered to within an accuracy of a few percent rms.

Backscattering differential ghost imaging in turbid media

In this Letter we present experimental results concerning the retrieval of images of absorbing objects immersed in turbid media via differential ghost imaging (DGI) in a backscattering configuration. The method has been applied, for the first time to our knowledge, to the imaging of thin black objects located inside a turbid solution in proximity of its surface. We show that it recovers images with a contrast better than standard noncorrelated direct imaging, but equivalent to noncorrelated diffusive imaging. A simple theoretical model capable of describing the basic optics of DGI in turbid media is proposed.

25 ns software correlator for photon and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

A 25 ns time resolution, multi-tau software correlator developed in LABVIEW based on the use of a standard photon counting unit, a fast timer/counter board (6602-PCI National Instrument) and a personal computer (PC) (1.5 GHz Pentium 4) is presented and quantitatively discussed. The correlator works by processing the stream of incoming data in parallel according to two different algorithms: For large lag times (τ⩾100 μs), a classical time-mode (TM) scheme, based on the measure of the number of pulses per time interval, is used; differently, for τ⩽100 μs a photon-mode (PM) scheme is adopted and the time sequence of the arrival times of the photon pulses is measured. By combining the two methods, we developed a system capable of working out correlation functions on line, in full real time for the TM correlator and partially in batch processing for the PM correlator. For the latter one, the duty cycle depends on the count rate of the incoming pulses, being ∼100% for count rates ⩽3×104 Hz, ∼15% at 105 Hz, and ...

Coherent imaging of a pure phase object with classical incoherent light

A ghost imaging scheme is used to observe the diffraction pattern of a pure phase object . It is observed that when increasing the spatial coherence the diffraction pattern disappeared from the cross-correlation, while it appeared in the autocorrelation. The cross-correlation contains information about the phase object only when the light is spatially incoherent.

Longitudinal coherence in thermal ghost imaging

We show theoretically and experimentally that lensless ghost imaging with thermal light is fully interpretable in terms of classical statistical optics. The disappearance of the ghost image when the object and the reference planes are located at different distances from the source is due to the fading out of the intensity-intensity cross correlation between the two planes. Thus the visibility and the resolution of the ghost image are determined by the longitudinal coherence of the speckle beam, and no quantum explanation is necessary.

Dynamic heterodyne near field scattering

The technique heterodyne near field scattering (HNFS), originally developed for low-angle static light scattering, has also been implemented for carrying out dynamic light scattering. While the classical dynamic light scattering method measures the intensity-intensity correlation function, dynamic HNFS gives directly the field-field correlation function, without any assumption on the statistical properties of the sample, as the ones required by the Siegert relation. The technique has been tested with calibrated Brownian particles and its performances compared to those of the classical dynamic light scattering method.

Heterodyne speckle velocimetry

We present a simple method for fluid velocimetry based on the velocity of the heterodyne speckles generated by tracking particles illuminated with coherent light. It works in real time and provides instantaneous two-dimensional velocity mappings in the direction orthogonal to the optical axis, independently of the particle concentration and size, also for subwavelength particles. It also provides the velocity distribution of the fluid over the entire sample thickness. The method has been quantitatively tested by using the motions of rigid diffusers and applied for mapping the flow of a confined fluid.

Hardware simulator for photon correlation spectroscopy

We present a hardware simulator ideal for testing digital correlators in photon correlation spectroscopy. By using a PCI-6534 National Instrument I/O board, a personal computer (1.5 GHz Pentium 4), and an original algorithm developed in LabVIEW (National Instrument™), we realized an instrument capable of delivering a continuous stream of transistor-transistor logic pulses with the desired statistical properties over one or more channels. The pulse resolution could be set to values multiple of the clock period Δt=50 ns available on the board. When a single channel is used, the maximum count rate at Δt=50 ns was 〈I〉∼350 kHz. With two channels we obtained 〈I〉∼80 kHz at Δt=50 ns and 〈I〉∼120 kHz at Δt=100 ns. Pulse streams with Gaussian statistics and in the presence of shot noise were simulated and measured with a commercial hardware correlator. Photodetector defects, such as the presence of afterpulses, were also simulated and their elimination by cross correlation techniques was checked. The simulator works...