Phase retrieval using coherent imaging systems with linear transfer functions

Abstract

We consider the problem of quantitative phase retrieval from images obtained using a coherent shift-invariant linear imaging system whose associated transfer function (i.e., the Fourier transform of the complex point-spread function) is well approximated by a linear function of spatial frequency. This linear approximation to the transfer function is applicable when the spread of spatial frequencies, in a two-dimensional complex wavefield, is sufficiently narrow when compared to the characteristic length of variation of the transfer function for an imaging system taking such a wavefield as input. We give several algorithms for reconstructing both the phase and amplitude of a given two-dimensi..