We propose the application of multiresolution transforms, such as wavelets
(WT) and curvelets (CT), to the reconstruction of images of extended objects
that have been acquired with adaptive optics (AO) systems. Such multichannel
approaches normally make use of probabilistic tools in order to distinguish
significant structures from noise and reconstruction residuals. Furthermore, we
aim to check the historical assumption that image-reconstruction algorithms
using static PSFs are not suitable for AO imaging. We convolve an image of
Saturn taken with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) with AO PSFs from the 5-m
Hale telescope at the Palomar Observatory and add both shot and readout noise.
Subsequently, we apply different approaches to the blurred and noisy data in
order to recover the original object. The approaches include multi-frame blind
deconvolution (with the algorithm IDAC), myopic deconvolution with
regularization (with MISTRAL) and wavelets- or curvelets-based static PSF
deconvolution (AWMLE and ACMLE algorithms). We used the mean squared error
(MSE) and the structural similarity index (SSIM) to compare the results. We
discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the two metrics. We found that CT
produces better results than WT, as measured in terms of MSE and SSIM.
Multichannel deconvolution with a static PSF produces results which are
generally better than the results obtained with the myopic/blind approaches
(for the images we tested) thus showing that the ability of a method to
suppress the noise and to track the underlying iterative process is just as
critical as the capability of the myopic/blind approaches to update the PSF.Comment: In revision in Astronomy & Astrophysics. 19 pages, 13 figure