Efficient reconstruction of multiphase morphologies from correlation functions - art. no. 066701

A highly efficient algorithm for the reconstruction of microstructures of h eterogeneous media from spatial correlation functions is presented. Since m any experimental techniques yield two-point correlation functions, the rest oration of heterogeneous structures, such as composites, porous materials, microemulsions, ceramics, or polymer blends, is an inverse problem of funda mental importance. Similar to previously proposed algorithms, the new metho d relies on Monte Carlo optimization, representing the microstructure on a discrete grid. An efficient way to update the correlation functions after l ocal changes to the structure is introduced. In addition, the rate of conve rgence is substantially enhanced by selective Monte Carlo moves at interfac es. Speedups over prior methods of more than two orders of magnitude are th us achieved. Moreover, an improved minimization protocol leads to additiona l gains. The algorithm is ideally suited for implementation on parallel com puters. The increase in efficiency brings new classes of problems within th e realm of the tractable, notably those involving several different structu ral length scales and/or components.