Numerical investigation of the inverse blackbody radiation problem

A numerical algorithm for the inverse blackbody radiation problem, which is the determination of the temperature distribution of a thermal radiator (TDTR) from its total radiated power spectrum (TRPS), is presented, based on the general theory of amplitude-phase retrieval. With application of this new algorithm, the ill-posed nature of the Fredholm equation of the first kind can be largely overcome and a convergent solution to high accuracy can be obtained. By incorporation of the hybrid input–output algorithm into our algorithm, the convergent process can be substantially expedited and the stagnation problem of the solution can be averted. From model calculations it is found that the new algorithm can also provide a robust reconstruction of the TDTR from the noise-corrupted data of the TRPS. Therefore the new algorithm may offer a useful approach to solving the ill-posed inverse problem.