Abstract

Results of reconstruction of objects from computer simulated photon limited stellar speckle interferometry data are presented, using the exponential filter method.¹ The objects reconstructed are collections of point sources and extended asteroidlike objects. The simulations suggest a limiting magnitude of ~14 for an object consisting of four point sources. This result compares favorably with results obtained using the triple correlation reconstruction method. The data processing involves the calculation of an ensemble average of the autocorrelation of short exposure turbulence degraded images, which have been premultiplied by a linear exponential. A novel adaptation of the traditional photon differencing method for calculating the autocorrelation of a photon limited frame of data is employed. In this adaptation, values placed in the autocorrelation array are no longer restricted to unity but are a product of the values of the linear exponentials at the respective arrival positions of the two photons.

© 1989 Optical Society of America