Bayesian image reconstruction from partial image and aliased spectral intensity data

An image reconstruction problem motivated by xray fiber diffraction analysis is considered. The experimental data are sums of the squares of the amplitudes of particular sets of Fourier coefficients of the electron density, and a part of the electron density is known. The image reconstruction problem is to estimate the unknown part of the electron density, the "image." A Bayesian approach is taken in which a prior model for the image is based on the fact that it consists of atoms, i.e., the unknown electron density consists of separated, sharp peaks. Currently used heuristic methods are shown to correspond to certain maximum a posteriori estimates of the Fourier coefficients. An analytical solution for the Bayesian minimum mean-square-error estimate is derived. Simulations show that the minimum mean-square-error estimate gives good results, even when there is considerable data loss, and out-performs the maximum a posteriori estimates.