Optimal selection of delay time for enhancing imaging contrast in optical Kerr gated imaging through a turbid medium

Abstract Time-resolved imaging of an object in a turbid medium is demonstrated using an ultrafast optical Kerr gate (OKG) of liquid carbon disulfide (CS2). A time-integrated imaging is also obtained by changing the arrangement of the OKG. The gating pulse of the OKG has a long-time tail arising from the molecular reorientation of CS2. We study the effect of the delay time between the imaging pulse and gating pulse on the efficiency of ultrafast OKG of CS2 imaging through a turbid medium. The experimental results show that the visibility and contrast of the time-resolved image can be improved in contrast to those of the steady-state image. The degree of improvement in the quality of the time-resolved image depends on the ratio of three types of photons gated by the OKG. For the OKG of CS2, there exists a relatively wide delay times to obtain a high contrast image, which decreases the difficulty of precise determination of the delay time between the imaging pulse and gating pulse.