Progress and Prospect of Imaging through Scattering Media

Scattering media exists widely in our daily life. Imaging through the scattering media presents important scientific significance and strong application value in medical imaging, autonomous driving, national security, and other fields. Here, we briefly review the current progress in scattering imaging and analyze the scattering characteristics of the medium via distinguishing the ballistic light and the scattered light. Existing scattering imaging techniques are divided into two categories: methods that utilize the scattered light and approaches that separate the scattered light from the ballistic light. Two methods of exploiting scattered light are summarized, which analyze the spatial characteristics of scattering media and model the light propagation in the scattering media. Also, the spatial or temporal separability between the scattered light and the ballistic light are introduced. The scattering imaging techniques are compared in terms of illumination, complexity of the imaging device, prior information dependency, type and strength of the scattering media, and filed of view. Finally, the development trend is forecasted.