Abstract

The autocorrelation function (ACF) a, of a realvalued function f(x, y) (e.g., a monochromatic image) is ordinarily defined as Recently it has been proposed that in the study of spatial phase discrimination it might be useful to consider a generalized ACF.¹ Suppose the nth order ACF of f is defined as Clearly a_f,1 (the ordinary ACF) fixes the power spectrum of f but leaves its phase spectrum unconstrained.

© 1988 Optical Society of America