Abstract

The effect of a priori information on the degrees of freedom of a noisy optical image is discussed under different conditions of coherence. Comparison is made between eigenmodes of the system’s point spread function and statistically uncorrelated modes. Numerical results are obtained for the number of degrees of freedom and the mode-mode correlation in the irradiance distribution of the image of a diffraction-limited incoherent system. The effect of the power spectra of the object on the results is pointed out.

© 1977 Optical Society of America

Degrees of freedom, and eigenfunctions, for the noisy image

M. Bendinelli, A. Consortini, L. Ronchi, and B. Roy Frieden
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 64(11) 1498-1502 (1974)

Resolvable degrees of freedom in observation of a coherent object

Carl W. Helstrom
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67(6) 833-838 (1977)

Degrees of Freedom of an Image

G. Toraldo di Francia
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 59(7) 799-804 (1969)

Effects of Coherence on the Degrees of Freedom of an Image

F. Gori and G. Guattari
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 61(1) 36-39 (1971)

Degrees of freedom of images from point-like-element pupils

F. Gori and G. Guattari
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 64(4) 453-458 (1974)