Imaging laboratory tests on a fiber linked telescope array

We report laboratory experimental results obtained with end to end image re construction breadboard including a 2D object, a highly birefringent fiber linked telescope array, an interferometric mixing assembly and an image res toration algorithm. The full control of birefringent effects allows the acq uisition of the object complex Fourier spectrum (phase and modulus). The re sults consist of an accurate image reconstruction compared with the origina l source. The image restoration algorithm seeks for the object brightness d istribution that satisfies two criteria: goodness of fit with the data and regularization. Future improvements of both the instrumental setup and imag e restoration algorithm are discussed. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Scien ce B.V. All rights reserved.