Π-Net: A double-branch network framework for scanning coherent diffraction imaging

Abstract

Ptychography is a coherent diffractive imaging technique that surpasses the resolution limitations of typical X-ray optics. It generates label-free, high-contrast quantitative amplitude and phase images without requiring prior knowledge. How to quickly recover high-fidelity amplitude and phase contrast images of an authentic sample is a challenge, however, due to the expensive computation that precludes real-time imaging. This paper proposes a framework with a double-branch network, Π-Net, to solve this complex problem. It can simultaneously and robustly reconstruct the object's phase and amplitude information from a degraded image. By analyzing the performance of various activation functions, we find that the activation function plays a crucial role in phase retrieval. Numerical experiments demonstrate the robustness of Π-Net, and our reconstruction results are superior to those of state-of-the-art methods. In addition, ablation studies have revealed that the negative output of neurons can contribute to improved reconstruction outcomes.