An improved ptychographical phase retrieval algorithm for diffractive imaging

The ptychographical iterative engine (or PIE) is a recently developed phase retrieval algorithm that employs a series of diffraction patterns recorded as a known illumination function is translated to a set of overlapping positions relative to a target sample. The technique has been demonstrated successfully at optical and X-ray wavelengths and has been shown to be robust to detector noise and to converge considerably faster than support-based phase retrieval methods. In this paper, the PIE is extended so that the requirement for an accurate model of the illumination function is removed. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.