Can a conventional optical camera realize turbulence-free imaging?

Abstract

Atmospheric turbulence is a serious problem for traditional optical imaging, especially for satellite and aircraft-to-ground imaging. Here, we report a novel and practical phenomenon in which turbulence-free images can be reconstructed on a conventional optical camera based on the accumulation of sunlight intensity and photon number fluctuation autocorrelation. Different from conventional ghost imaging, this method can obtain turbulence-free images, and its imaging speed is comparable to that of traditional optical imaging. Moreover, by adding photon number fluctuation autocorrelation algorithm software, almost all optical cameras, including mobile phone cameras, can realize this function without changing the structure of the original camera.