Fitting a free-form scattering length density profile to reflectivity data using temperature-proportional quenching

A technique for fitting a free-form scattering length density profile to reflectivity data via least-squares minimization is presented. The approach combines aspects of simulated annealing with a parametrized representation of the scattering length density profile. The ability of the algorithm to accurately recover the scattering length density profile from arbitrary initial parameter values is demonstrated for simulated and experimental data.