Method and apparatus for position determination

1. A method of determining a position of an object with respect to incident radiation, comprising:

determining, at a detector, an intensity of radiation scattered by an object;

iteratively determining, by a processing device, at least one of an object function indicating one or more characteristics of the object and a probe function indicative of one or more characteristics of radiation incident on the object;

iteratively determining, by the processing device, the position of the object, wherein the iteratively determining the position of the object comprises:

cross correlating, by the processing device, first and second estimates of the object function or the probe function;

determining, by the processing device, a location of a peak of the cross correlation;

determining, by the processing device, a translation deviation indicative of an improvement in determination of the position of the object with respect to the radiation incident on the object between the first and second estimates based on the location of the peak;

wherein the iteratively determining, by the processing device, at least one of the object function and the probe function comprises determining, by the processing device, a third estimate of the object function or the probe function based on the translation deviation; and

outputting one or more of the object function, probe function and an indication of the position of the object.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the position of the object with respect to the incident radiation is determined at least in part on the translation deviation.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the position of the object with respect to the incident radiation is based on the translation deviation and a feedback value.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the feedback value is dynamically adjusted.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the dynamic adjustment is based on the translation deviation.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the dynamic adjustment is provided to reduce the feedback value to avoid instability.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first estimate is a prior estimate of the object function or the probe function and the second estimate is an updated estimate of the object function or the probe function, the method further comprising:

transposing and conjugating the first estimate and determining a transform thereof and determining a transform of the second estimate.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

multiplying the transforms of the transposed and conjugated first estimate and the second estimate.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

inversely transforming the multiplied transforms of the transposed and conjugated first estimate and the second estimate.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the location of the peak of the cross correlation is determined based on the inversely transformed first estimate and the second estimate.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the location of the peak of the cross correlation comprises:

determining an integer location of the peak and a sub-integer location of the peak.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

transposing and conjugating the first estimate and determining a transform thereof and determining a transform of the second estimate;

multiplying the transforms of the transposed and conjugated first estimate and the second estimate; and

zero padding the multiplied transforms to determine the sub-integer location of the peak.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

transposing and conjugating the first estimate and determining a transform thereof and determining a transform of the second estimate;

multiplying the transforms of the transposed and conjugated first estimate and the second estimate; and

determining an approximate location of the peak and only multiplying a region of the transforms corresponding to the approximate location of the peak to determine the sub-integer location of the peak.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the position of the object with respect to the incident radiation is determined for a plurality of positions.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of positions are positions of the object with respect to the incident radiation.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein in a first iteration of the method an initial estimate of one or both the object function and/or the probe function is utilised.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

updating only one of the object function and the probe function for a first plurality of iterations.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the position of the object with respect to the incident radiation is determined following a second plurality of iterations.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the position of the object is determined based upon the translation deviation and a currently estimated position of the object.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cross correlation of the first and second estimates of the object function or the probe function are determined in a frequency domain.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the position of the object with respect to the incident radiation is determined iteratively alongside an estimate of one or both the object function or the probe function for at least some iterations.

22. An apparatus for determining a position of an object with respect to incident radiation, comprising:

a detector for measuring an intensity of a wavefield incident thereon scattered from an object; and

a processing device arranged:

to receive intensity data from the detector,

to iteratively determine at least one of an object function indicating one or more characteristics of the object and a probe function indicative of one or more characteristics of incident radiation, and

to iteratively determine the position of the object with respect to the incident radiation by:

cross correlating first and second estimates of the object function or the probe function indicating of one or more characteristics of the incident radiation,

determining a location of a peak of the cross correlation, and

determining a translation deviation indicative of an improvement in determination of the position of the object with respect to the radiation incident on the object between the first and second estimates based on the location of the peak;

wherein the iteratively determining at least one of the object function and the probe function comprises determining a third estimate of the object function or the probe function based on the translation deviation.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the first estimate is a prior estimate of the object function or the probe function and the second estimate is an updated estimate of the object function or the probe function, wherein the processing device is further arranged to:

transpose and conjugate the first estimate and to determine a transform thereof and determine a transform of the second estimate.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the processing device is further arranged to:

multiply the transforms of the transposed and conjugated first estimate and the second estimate.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the processing device is further arranged to:

inversely transform the multiplied transforms of the transposed and conjugated first estimate and the second estimate.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein the processing device is further arranged to:

determine the location of the peak of the cross correlation based on the inversely transforming the multiplied transforms of the transposed and conjugated first estimate and the second estimate.

27. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the processing device is further arranged to:

determine the location of the peak of the cross correlation by determining an integer location of the peak and a sub-integer location of the peak.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 , wherein the processing device is further arranged to:

transpose and conjugate the first estimate and to determine a transform thereof and determine a transform of the second estimate;

multiply the transforms of the transposed and conjugated first estimate and the second estimate; and

zero pad the multiplied transforms to determine the sub-integer location of the peak.

29. The apparatus of claim 27 , wherein the processing device is further arranged to:

transpose and conjugate the first estimate and to determine a transform thereof and determine a transform of the second estimate;

multiply the transforms of the transposed and conjugated first estimate and the second estimate; and

determine an approximate location of the peak and to only multiply a region of the transforms corresponding to the approximate location to determine the sub-integer location of the peak.

30. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the position of the object with respect to the incident radiation is based on the translation deviation and a current estimate of the location of the object.

31. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the processing device is further arranged to:

determine the position of the object with respect to the incident radiation based on the translation deviation and a feedback value.

32. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the processing device is further arranged to:

determine the cross correlation of the first and second estimates of the object function or the probe function in a frequency domain.

33. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing computer executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, perform operations comprising:

determining, at a detector, an intensity of radiation scattered by an object;

iteratively determining, by a processing device, at least one of an object function indicating one or more characteristics of the an object and a probe function indicative of one or more characteristics of incident radiation incident on the object;

iteratively determining, by the processing device, a position of the object, wherein the iteratively determining the position of the object comprises:

cross correlating, by the processing device, first and second estimates of the object function or the probe function;

determining, by the processing device, a location of a peak of the cross correlation;

determining, by the processing device, a translation deviation indicative of an improvement in determination of the a difference in position of the object with respect to the radiation incident on the object between the first and second estimates based on the location of the peak;

wherein the iteratively determining, by the processing device, at least one of the object function and the probe function comprises determining, by the processing device, a third estimate of the object function or the probe function based on the translation deviation; and

outputting one or more of the object function, probe function and an indication of the position of the object.