Representation of Fourier Integral Operators using Shearlets

Traditional methods of time-frequency and multiscale analysis, such as wavelets and Gabor frames, have been successfully employed for representing most classes of pseudodifferential operators. However these methods are not equally effective in dealing with Fourier Integral Operators in general. In this paper, we show that the shearlets, recently introduced by the authors and their collaborators, provide very efficient representations for a large class of Fourier Integral Operators. The shearlets are an affine-like system of well-localized waveforms at various scales, locations and orientations, which are particularly efficient in representing anisotropic functions. Using this approach, we prove that the matrix representation of a Fourier Integral Operator with respect to a Parseval frame of sherlets is sparse and well-organized. This fact recovers a similar result recently obtained by Candès and Demanet using curvelets, which illustrates the benefits of directional multiscale representations (such as curvelets and shearlets) in the study of those functions and operators where traditional multiscale methods are unable to provide the appropriate geometric analysis in the phase space.