Object reconstruction from experimental far-field data using phase retrieval algorithms

Recently a Simulated Annealing (S.A.) algorithm has been put forward [1] for phase retrieval from the power spectrum of a real and positive object. This method has been succesfully used in computer simulations, of object reconstruction, with different signal to noise ratios [2] and also of photon-limited stellar speckle interferometry [3]. The algorithm is flexible and permits an easy introduction of additional constraints. Its performance is uniformly high. However, it requires a rather lengthy computing time. In some cases, it can be accelerated by using first the hybrid input-output version of the iterative Fourier trasform (I.F.T.) algorithm [4-6].