Enhancing scattering images for orientation recovery with diffusion map.

We explore the possibility for orientation recovery in single-molecule coherent diffractive imaging with diffusion map. This algorithm approximates the Laplace-Beltrami operator, which we diagonalize with a metric that corresponds to the mapping of Euler angles onto scattering images. While suitable for images of objects with specific properties we show why this approach fails for realistic molecules. We introduce a modification of the form factor in the scattering images which facilitates the orientation recovery and should be suitable for all recovery algorithms based on the distance of individual images.