AFAIK you would have to do a .load() function here as apposed to the .ajax(), but you could use jQuery setTimeout to keep it live (ish)
<script>
$(document).ready(function() {
$.ajaxSetup({
cache: false
});
$("#placeholder").load("PATH TO IMAGE");
var refreshId = setInterval(function() {
$("#placeholder").load("PATH TO IMAGE");
}, 500);
});
</script>