Study of the direct Fourier method for the three-dimensional reconstruction of objects in the case of a missing angular data range

Some practical and theoretical considerations on the three-dimensional reconstruction of an object from its two-dimensional projections by the direct Fourier method have been obtained using computer generated images. The procedure applied has been designed to study the specific problems derived from the collection of images in transmission electron microscopes (TEM), making special emphasis on images of biological objects. The study of the calculated point spread function (PSF) of the experimental system and the mean and variance profiles of the reconstructions have provided useful criteria to assess the quality and the interpretability of three-dimensional reconstructions of real data.