Phase contrast ghost imaging via birefringent modulation

Ghost imaging is a distinctive imaging technique that achieves non-local imaging with correlation measurement. Recent studies have shown that phase contrast imaging can be achieved in computational ghost imaging by combining spiral phase and Fourier basis modulation. Additionally, various phase contrast strategies employing edge extraction operators have been used to enhance edge features. However, these methods inevitably rely on complex modulation methods or advanced equipment. In this paper, we demonstrate a direct phase contrast imaging using only a quartz plate modulation in the pseudo-thermal light ghost imaging. Conventional ghost imaging struggles with highly transparent objects due to weak intensity variations, but our scheme overcomes this limitation by selectively suppressing signals from the non-mutated regions in the bucket detection. As experimental validation, we demonstrate images of cotton fibers, photoresist structures, and a biospecimen. This technology is expected to play an important role in the non-local imaging of minute and complex structures.