“GHOST IMAGING”: FUNDAMENTAL AND APPLICATIVE ASPECTS

The so - called ghost imaging represents a novel imaging technique which is especially appropriate to obtain images of objects located in positions difficult to reach or immersed in turbid media. It was first proposed as a novel quantum technology which exploits the key quantum property which is called entanglement. Subsequently, it has been shown theoretically and experimentally that the same technique can be realized also using classically correlated light beams. For a long time the topic of ghost imaging has been the object of an academic debate concerning the question whether quantum entanglement is necessary or not to realize it. In this talk we focus on the concrete question whether there are or not cases in which ghost imaging can offer better performances than standard imaging, and describe the status of the art in this matter.