Image quality in double- and triple-intensity ghost imaging with classical partially polarized light

Abstract: Classical ghost imaging is a correlation-imaging technique in which the image of the object is found through intensity correlations of light. We analyze three different quality parameters, namely the visibility, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), to assess the performance of double- and triple-intensity correlation-imaging setups. The source is a random partially polarized beam of light obeying Gaussian statistics and the image quality is evaluated as a function of the degree of polarization (DoP). We show that the visibility improves when the DoP and the order of imaging increase, while the SNR behaves oppositely. The CNR is for the most part independent of DoP and the imaging order. The results are important for the development of new imaging devices using partially polarized light.