A Phase-retrieval Technique in Pupil Synthesis

The pupil function of an incoherent system is not defined uniquely by the incoherent transfer function [1]. This fact creates a phase-retrieval problem when the aberration function has to be determined from an intensity measurement. The phase and amplitude of the pupil function can be found from the point spread function only if additional information about the optical system is available. The information has a mathematical character if some constraints upon the class of admissible solutions are imposed. (See [2] and [3] where the class of phase functions is reduced to finite polynomials.) Another method assuring the uniqueness of the solution requires additional information of physical characteristics. (See [4], [5], [6], and [7] where the second measurement is postulated.)