Super-resolved point-spread-function calibration for astronomical imaging

Abstract

Physically constrained iterative deconvolution attempts to realize the solution of an ill-posed problem, the iterative estimation of both the object function and the corresponding set of image point-spread-functions given a set of noisy realizations of images obtained with less than perfect optical imaging systems. The conditions for achieving super-resolution, defined as recovery of some object spatial frequency components outside the optical passband, have been established by Hunt (see Int. J. Imaging Sys. and Tech. vol.6, p.297-304, 1995) and co-workers Sheppard et al. (see J. Opt. Sec. Am. A, 1998). Here results in astronomical imaging, both with and without adaptive optics correction are shown and the art of using physically constrained iterative deconvolution in astronomical imaging is discussed.