Image Reconstruction in Optical Interferometry

This tutorial paper describes the problem of image reconstruction from interferometric data with a particular focus on the specific problems encountered at optical (visible/IR) wavelengths. The challenging issues in image reconstruction from interferometric data are introduced in the general framework of inverse problem approach. This framework is then used to describe existing image reconstruction algorithms in radio interferometry and the new methods specifically developed for optical interferometry.Comment: accepted for publication in IEEE Signal Processing Magazin

Phase Referencing in Optical Interferometry

One of the aims of next generation optical interferometric instrumentation is to be able to make use of information contained in the visibility phase to construct high dynamic range images. Radio and optical interferometry are at the two extremes of phase corruption by the atmosphere. While in radio it is possible to obtain calibrated phases for the science objects, in the optical this is currently not possible. Instead, optical interferometry has relied on closure phase techniques to produce images. Such techniques allow only to achieve modest dynamic ranges. However, with high contrast objects, for faint targets or when structure detail is needed, phase referencing techniques as used in radio interferometry, should theoretically achieve higher dynamic ranges for the same number of telescopes. Our approach is not to provide evidence either for or against the hypothesis that phase referenced imaging gives better dynamic range than closure phase imaging. Instead we wish to explore the potential of this technique for future optical interferometry and also because image reconstruction in the optical using phase referencing techniques has only been performed with limited success. We have generated simulated, noisy, complex visibility data, analogous to the signal produced in radio interferometers, using the VLTI as a template. We proceeded with image reconstruction using the radio image reconstruction algorithms contained in AIPS IMAGR (CLEAN algorithm). Our results show that image reconstruction is successful in most of our science cases, yielding images with a 4 milliarcsecond resolution in K band. (abridged)Comment: 11 pages, 36 figure

Image Reconstruction in Optical Interferometry

International audienceInverse problem approach is a suitable framework to analyze the challenging issues in image reconstruction from interferometric data. It can be exploited to describe and formally compare the new methods specifically developed for optical interferometry

Large Scale 3D Image Reconstruction in Optical Interferometry

Astronomical optical interferometers (OI) sample the Fourier transform of the intensity distribution of a source at the observation wavelength. Because of rapid atmospheric perturbations, the phases of the complex Fourier samples (visibilities) cannot be directly exploited , and instead linear relationships between the phases are used (phase closures and differential phases). Consequently, specific image reconstruction methods have been devised in the last few decades. Modern polychromatic OI instruments are now paving the way to multiwavelength imaging. This paper presents the derivation of a spatio-spectral ("3D") image reconstruction algorithm called PAINTER (Polychromatic opticAl INTErferometric Reconstruction software). The algorithm is able to solve large scale problems. It relies on an iterative process, which alternates estimation of polychromatic images and of complex visibilities. The complex visibilities are not only estimated from squared moduli and closure phases, but also from differential phases, which help to better constrain the polychromatic reconstruction. Simulations on synthetic data illustrate the efficiency of the algorithm.Comment: EUSIPCO, Aug 2015, NICE, Franc

The 2010 Interferometric Imaging Beauty Contest

We present the results of the fourth Optical/IR Interferometry Imaging Beauty Contest. The contest consists of blind imaging of test data sets derived from model sources and distributed in the OI-FITS format. The test data consists of spectral data sets on an object "observed" in the infrared with spectral resolution. There were 4 different algorithms competing this time: BSMEM the Bispectrum Maximum Entropy Method by Young, Baron & Buscher; RPR the Recursive Phase Reconstruction by Rengaswamy; SQUEEZE a Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm by Baron, Monnier & Kloppenborg; and, WISARD the Weak-phase Interferometric Sample Alternating Reconstruction Device by Vannier & Mugnier. The contest model image, the data delivered to the contestants and the rules are described as well as the results of the image reconstruction obtained by each method. These results are discussed as well as the strengths and limitations of each algorithm.Comment: To be published in SPIE 2010 "Optical and infrared interferometry II

Image reconstruction in optical interferometry: Benchmarking the regularization

With the advent of infrared long-baseline interferometers with more than two telescopes, both the size and the completeness of interferometric data sets have significantly increased, allowing images based on models with no a priori assumptions to be reconstructed. Our main objective is to analyze the multiple parameters of the image reconstruction process with particular attention to the regularization term and the study of their behavior in different situations. The secondary goal is to derive practical rules for the users. Using the Multi-aperture image Reconstruction Algorithm (MiRA), we performed multiple systematic tests, analyzing 11 regularization terms commonly used. The tests are made on different astrophysical objects, different (u,v) plane coverages and several signal-to-noise ratios to determine the minimal configuration needed to reconstruct an image. We establish a methodology and we introduce the mean-square errors (MSE) to discuss the results. From the ~24000 simulations performed for the benchmarking of image reconstruction with MiRA, we are able to classify the different regularizations in the context of the observations. We find typical values of the regularization weight. A minimal (u,v) coverage is required to reconstruct an acceptable image, whereas no limits are found for the studied values of the signal-to-noise ratio. We also show that super-resolution can be achieved with increasing performance with the (u,v) coverage filling. Using image reconstruction with a sufficient (u,v) coverage is shown to be reliable. The choice of the main parameters of the reconstruction is tightly constrained. We recommend that efforts to develop interferometric infrastructures should first concentrate on the number of telescopes to combine, and secondly on improving the accuracy and sensitivity of the arrays.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures; accepted in A&

Why Chromatic Imaging Matters

During the last two decades, the first generation of beam combiners at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer has proved the importance of optical interferometry for high-angular resolution astrophysical studies in the near- and mid-infrared. With the advent of 4-beam combiners at the VLTI, the u-v coverage per pointing increases significantly, providing an opportunity to use reconstructed images as powerful scientific tools. Therefore, interferometric imaging is already a key feature of the new generation of VLTI instruments, as well as for other interferometric facilities like CHARA and JWST. It is thus imperative to account for the current image reconstruction capabilities and their expected evolutions in the coming years. Here, we present a general overview of the current situation of optical interferometric image reconstruction with a focus on new wavelength-dependent information, highlighting its main advantages and limitations. As an Appendix we include several cookbooks describing the usage and installation of several state-of-the art image reconstruction packages. To illustrate the current capabilities of the software available to the community, we recovered chromatic images, from simulated MATISSE data, using the MCMC software SQUEEZE. With these images, we aim at showing the importance of selecting good regularization functions and their impact on the reconstruction.Comment: Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy as part of the topical collection: Future of Optical-infrared Interferometry in Europ

Imaging the heart of astrophysical objects with optical long-baseline interferometry

The number of publications of aperture-synthesis images based on optical long-baseline interferometry measurements has recently increased due to easier access to visible and infrared interferometers. The interferometry technique has now reached a technical maturity level that opens new avenues for numerous astrophysical topics requiring milli-arcsecond model-independent imaging. In writing this paper our motivation was twofold: 1) review and publicize emblematic excerpts of the impressive corpus accumulated in the field of optical interferometry image reconstruction; 2) discuss future prospects for this technique by selecting four representative astrophysical science cases in order to review the potential benefits of using optical long baseline interferometers. For this second goal we have simulated interferometric data from those selected astrophysical environments and used state-of-the-art codes to provide the reconstructed images that are reachable with current or soon-to-be facilities. The image reconstruction process was "blind" in the sense that reconstructors had no knowledge of the input brightness distributions. We discuss the impact of optical interferometry in those four astrophysical fields. We show that image reconstruction software successfully provides accurate morphological information on a variety of astrophysical topics and review the current strengths and weaknesses of such reconstructions. We investigate how to improve image reconstruction and the quality of the image possibly by upgrading the current facilities. We finally argue that optical interferometers and their corresponding instrumentation, existing or to come, with 6 to 10 telescopes, should be well suited to provide images of complex sceneries.Comment: Acccepted to Astronomy and Astrophysics Revie