Physics-informed two-stage neural network enables computational ghost imaging through unknown scattering media

Z Zhengqing Gao (State Key Laboratory of Photonics and Communications, Center for Quantum Sensing and Information Processing, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 1 , Shanghai 200240,) X Xiaoyan Wu X Xinliang Zhai (State Key Laboratory of Photonics and Communications, Center for Quantum Sensing and Information Processing, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 1 , Shanghai 200240,) Z Ze Zheng (State Key Laboratory of Photonics and Communications, Center for Quantum Sensing and Information Processing, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 1 , Shanghai 200240,) J Jianhong Shi J Jingzheng Huang (State Key Laboratory of Photonics and Communications, Center for Quantum Sensing and Information Processing, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 1 , Shanghai 200240,) G Guihua Zeng (State Key Laboratory of Photonics and Communications, Center for Quantum Sensing and Information Processing, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 1 , Shanghai 200240,)

Abstract

Imaging through scattering media located behind and in front of the object simultaneously remains a significant challenge in computational ghost imaging, as the reconstructed images are often severely degraded due to distorted illumination patterns and attenuated intensity values. In this Letter, we propose an untrained, two-stage self-supervised neural network that effectively mitigates both forward and backward scattering effects. Without the need for any labeled training data, our physics-informed framework exhibits strong adaptability to various types of unknown scattering media. We experimentally demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method by imaging through different scattering environments, including biologically relevant media and rotating ground glass. Compared with the existing reconstruction algorithms, our approach achieves substantially improved image quality for computational ghost imaging in unknown scattering media. This study introduces a paradigm for imaging through complex media and paves the way toward practical applications in biomedical and remote sensing scenarios.

Article Details

Volume / Issue Vol. 127, Issue 7
Published August 18, 2025
ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher American Institute of Physics

Journal Info

Applied Physics Letters

American Institute of Physics

ISSN: 0003-6951 Physical Sciences

Authors (7)

Z

Zhengqing Gao

State Key Laboratory of Photonics and Communications, Center for Quantum Sensing and Information Processing, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 1 , Shanghai 200240,

X

Xiaoyan Wu

X

Xinliang Zhai

State Key Laboratory of Photonics and Communications, Center for Quantum Sensing and Information Processing, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 1 , Shanghai 200240,

Z

Ze Zheng

State Key Laboratory of Photonics and Communications, Center for Quantum Sensing and Information Processing, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 1 , Shanghai 200240,

J

Jianhong Shi

J

Jingzheng Huang

State Key Laboratory of Photonics and Communications, Center for Quantum Sensing and Information Processing, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 1 , Shanghai 200240,

G

Guihua Zeng

State Key Laboratory of Photonics and Communications, Center for Quantum Sensing and Information Processing, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 1 , Shanghai 200240,