Ion and electron ghost imaging

Abstract

In this paper, we report a demonstration of ion and electron ghost imaging. Two beams of correlated ions and electrons are produced by a photoionization process and accelerated into opposite directions. Using a single time-and position-sensitive detector for one beam, we can image an object seen by the other beam even when the detector that sees this object has no spatial resolution. The extra information given by this second detector can, therefore, be used to reconstruct the image thanks to the correlation between the ions and the electrons. In our example, a metallic mask placed in front of a time-sensitive detector is used as the object to image. We demonstrate ion and electron ghost imaging using this mask in a transmission mode. These primary results are very promising and open applications especially in ion and electron imaging in surface science and nanophysics.