Phase retrieval algorithms for lensless imaging using diffractive shearing interferometry

Diffractive shearing interferometry (DSI) is a method that has recently been developed to perform lensless imaging using extreme ultraviolet radiation generated by high-harmonic generation. In this paper, we investigate the uniqueness of the DSI solution and the requirements for the support constraint size. We find that there can be multiple solutions to the DSI problem that consist of displaced copies of the actual object. These alternative solutions can be eliminated by enforcing a sufficiently tight support constraint, or by introducing additional synthetic constraints. We furthermore propose a new DSI algorithm inspired by the analogy with coherent diffractive imaging (CDI) algorithms: the original DSI algorithm is in a way analogous to the hybrid input–output algorithm as used in CDI, and we propose a new algorithm that is more analogous to the error reduction algorithm as used in CDI. We find that the newly proposed algorithm is suitable for final refinement of the reconstruction.

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