Imaging limits of ghost imaging under coupled light-field distortion and signal attenuation in scattering media

Ghost imaging (GI) under weak-light and scattering conditions remains a key challenge, and establishing a criterion to evaluate the performance limit is of great significance for applications such as biomedical imaging and autonomous driving. To this end, we propose a theoretical GI model that systematically accounts for the coupled effects of light-intensity attenuation and phase distortion. Both numerical simulations and experimental results demonstrate that the model effectively predicts imaging performance under different scattering conditions. We introduce the image signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as a quantitative metric, and use an SNR threshold of 35% of the value obtained under strong illumination without scattering as the imaging limit. Furthermore, the influence of different scattering medium concentrations on imaging performance is analyzed, and an empirical relationship between concentration and SNR is established. The results provide a practical reference for predicting GI performance and determining imaging-limit parameters, with potential applications in biomedical imaging, autonomous driving, and other weak-light scenarios.