White light optical processor for edge enhancement and spectral filtering.

A white light optical processor is described using partial coherence theory. The application of the processor to both edge enhancement and band-pass filtering of imagery is discussed. The spectral components of the spatial frequency content of images can be separated or filtered if the various spectra do not overlap by a distance determined from the spatial spectrum of the mutual intensity function of the image illumination. The results of an experimental and computer evaluation of the processor are presented.