Correlated two-photon imaging with true thermal light

Abstract

Received March 14, 2005; revised manuscript received May 4, 2005; accepted May 4, 2005 We report what is believed to be the first experimental demonstration of two-photon correlated imaging with true thermal light from a hollow cathode lamp. The coherence time of the source is much shorter than that of previous experiments using random scattered light from a laser. A two-pinhole mask was used as object, and the corresponding thin lens equation was well satisfied. Since thermal light sources are easier to obtain and measure than entangled light, it is conceivable that they may be used in special imaging applications.