Image design: Generation of a prescribed image through a diffraction-limited system with high-contrast recording

Image restoration involves the recovery of an image which has been distorted by a given imaging system. "Image design," on the other hand, aims at determining the input image which when distorted by an imaging system (e.g., a display device) becomes a desired pattern. The image design problem is encountered in the design of masks for microphotography, microlithography, laser printing, and aids for the visually impaired. In this correspondence, we solve the "image design" problem using linear programming techniques for the case of an imaging system modeled by a band-limited linear system followed by a noninvertible point nonlinearity.