Scattering media as random micro-phase-pinhole arrays for incoherent information transmission

Imaging through an optically thick scattering medium remains a formidable challenge, typically addressed by treating the medium as a stochastic "black box" that scrambles information into random speckle patterns. Here, we present a fundamental shift in this perspective: under incoherent illumination, the scattering medium functions as a random array of micro-phase-pinholes, serving as discrete channels for information transmission. By proposing and validating a micro-phase-pinhole model, we reveal that individual microchannels possess distinct transmission capacities that govern imaging quality. Crucially, we demonstrate that specific, randomly distributed combinations of these phase pinholes can spontaneously generate high-fidelity images directly within the speckle field. Guided by this fundamental physical interpretation, we develop a feature fusion algorithm that extracts and integrates high-quality information from selective channel combinations within a single speckle pattern. This work reveals the underlying physical principles of incoherent information delivery through scattering media. Transition from the "black box" view to a deterministic channel model is a strong conceptual leap, offering a novel pathway to overcome thickness limitation in imaging through scattering media.