Importance of the phase and amplitude in the fractional Fourier domain

The importance of the amplitude and phase in the fractional Fourier transform (FT) domain is analyzed on the basis of the rectangular signal and the real-world image. The quality of signal restoration from only the amplitude or from only the phase of its fractional FT by applying the inverse fractional FT is considered. It is shown that the signal reconstructed from the amplitude of the fractional FT usually reveals the main features of the original signal only for relatively low fractional orders. On the basis of phase information in the fractional FT domains, significant details of the signal can be obtained for nearly all fractional orders. (C) 2003 Optical Society of America.