METHOD FOR SURFACE RECONSTRUCTION FROM SLOPE OR CURVATURE MEASUREMENTS OF RECTANGULAR AREAS

The problem of surface reconstruction from slope or curvature measurem ents of rectangular areas has been examined by use of the orthogonalit y property of Legendre polynomials. A relation is given between the in tegrals involving slope or curvature data and the coefficients used in the expansion of the surface with such polynomials. Tt is shown that those coefficients are retrieved independently of each other. The effi ciency and stability of the method have been tested with numerical exa mples. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.