Optical Processor For The Very Large Array (VLA) Radiotelescope: Encoding-Dependent Errors

J. R. Fienup; L. E. Somers

doi:10.1117/12.958833

22 August 1980 Optical Processor For The Very Large Array (VLA) Radiotelescope: Encoding-Dependent Errors

J. R. Fienup, L. E. Somers

Proceedings Volume 0231, 1980 Intl Optical Computing Conf I; (1980) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.958833
Event: 1980 Technical Symposium East, 1980, Washington, D.C., United States

Abstract

An optical Fourier transform processor converts visibility data at its input to a sky brightness function at its output. Scattered light and spurious terms resulting from the method of encoding the complex visibility function as a real-valued and nonnegative transmittance result in errors in the processor output. In this paper, we discuss the degree to which each of these undesired terms degrades the signal-to-noise ratio of the output for different encoding methods and classes of images. We suggest alternative methods of encoding the input that greatly reduce the errors. Two particularly powerful methods of minimizing noise are "complementary weighting" and "bias equalization". Two data dependent parameters are found to be most important: (1) the ratio of the mean-squared visibility magnitude to the square of its maximum, and (2) the ratio of the squared maximum of the brightness function to its mean squared value.

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J. R. Fienup and L. E. Somers "Optical Processor For The Very Large Array (VLA) Radiotelescope: Encoding-Dependent Errors", Proc. SPIE 0231, 1980 Intl Optical Computing Conf I, (22 August 1980); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.958833

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