Method and apparatus for improving the signal to noise ratio of an image

Abstract

The quality of image of an object hidden inside a highly scattering semi-opaque disordered medium is improved by using space gate imaging or time gate imaging or space time gate imaging. In space gate imaging, a small segment of the object is illuminated at a time. The scattered light is passed through a spatial noise filter. On the image plane, an aperture is open at the position of the image segment which correspond to the segment of the illuminated object. A full image is obtained by scanning the object segment by segment and simultaneously recording the signal at the corresponding image segment. In time gate imaging, the unscattered (i.e. ballistic) portion of the pulse which contains the information of the image is temporally separated from the other (i.e. scattered) portions which contains the noise using a ultrafast laser pulse and temporal gating devices. The technique is in space-time gate imaging, the two techniques are combined to produce an image with a much higher signal to noise ratio. The time separation between the ballistic and scattered light may be increased by increasing thickness of random medium or by introducing small scatters into the random medium so as to make the medium more random. The signal to noise ratio can also be increased by making the random medium less random (so that there will be less scattered light). In addition, the signal to noise ratio can be increased by introducing an absorbing dye into the medium or by using a wavelength for the light which is in the absorption spectrum of the random medium or by making the medium more ordered (i.e. less random) or by using a pair of parallel polarizers.