Coherent Image Synthesis from Wavefront-Slope Measurements of a Nonimaged Laser-Speckle Field

We demonstrate that images of coherently illuminated objects can be formed from measurements of the wavefront slope (gradient) associated with a backscattcred laser field. The theoretical basis for this imaging technique is outlined, and we present the results of computer experiments in which we construct coherent images from digitally simulated laser-speckle measurements. We investigate the effect that measurement noise has on the quality of the reconstructed imagery.