High-precision angle measurement of pulsars is critical for realizing pulsar navigation. Compared to visible light and radio waves, the wavelength of X-rays is incredibly short, which provides the possibility of achieving better spatial resolution. However, due to the lack of applicable X-ray apparatus, extracting the angle information of pulsars through conventional X-ray methods is challenging. Here, we propose an approach of pulsar angle measurement based on spatially modulated X-ray intensity correlation (SMXIC), in which the angle information is obtained by measuring the spatial intensity correlation between two radiation fields. The theoretical model for this method has been established, and a proof-of-concept experiment was carried out. The SMXIC measurement of observing angles has been demonstrated, and the experimental results are consistent with the theoretical values. The potential of this method in future applications is discussed, and theoretically, the angular measurement at the level of micro-arcsecond can be expected. The sphere of pulsar navigation may benefit from our fresh insights.

An enhancement method of rapid lifetime determination is proposed for time-resolved fluorescence imaging to discriminate substances with approximate fluorescence lifetime in forensic examination. In the method, an image-exclusive-OR treatment with filter threshold adaptively chosen is presented to extract the region of interest from dual-gated fluorescence intensity images, and then the fluorescence lifetime image is reconstructed based on the rapid lifetime determination algorithm. Furthermore, a maximum and minimum threshold filtering is developed to automatically realize visualization enhancement of the lifetime image. In proof experiments, compared with traditional fluorescence intensity imaging and rapid lifetime determination method, the proposed method automatically distinguishes altered and obliterated documents written by two brands of highlighters with the same color and close fluorescence lifetime.

Encoding information using the topological charge of vortex beams has been proposed for optical communications. The conservation of the topological charge on propagation and the detection of the topological charge by a receiver are significant in these applications and have been well established in free-space. However, when vortex beams enter a diffuser, the wavefront is distorted, leading to a challenge in the conservation and detection of the topological charge. Here, we present a technique to measure the value of the topological charge of a vortex beam obscured in the randomly scattered light. The results of the numerical simulations and experiments are presented and are in good agreement. In particular, only a single-shot measurement is required to detect the topological charge of vortex beams, indicating that the method is applicable to a dynamic diffuser.