On convexity and identifiability in 1-D Fourier phase retrieval

Abstract

This paper considers phase retrieval from the magnitude of 1-D oversampled Fourier measurements. We first revisit the well-known lack of identifiability in this case, and point out that there always exists a solution that is minimum phase, even though the desired signal is not. Next, we explain how the least-squares formulation of this problem can be optimally solved via PhaseLift followed by spectral factorization, and this solution is always minimum phase. A simple approach is then proposed to circumvent non-identifiability: adding an impulse to an arbitrary complex signal (offset to the Fourier transform) before taking the quadratic measurements, so that a minimum phase signal is constructed and thus can be uniquely estimated. Simulations with synthetic data show the effectiveness of the proposed method.