The interference between time-dependent recurrences in the quantum autocorrelation function is eliminated by carrying out orthogonal transformations in the time-energy domain. The time-dependent phases and amplitudes of the individual recurrences are compared with the results obtained from simple classical trajectory calculations. Using classical trajectories we calculate a two-dimensional survival probability which is defined in the time and energy domain. The two-dimensional survival probability provides the phase and enables to distinguish between overlapping recurrences. Remarkable agreement between the quantum and classical results is obtained for the initial Gaussian wave packet which is preferentially located either in the regular or in the chaotic regimes in the classical phase space of the Pullen-Edmonds Hamiltonian (nonlinearly coupled two harmonic oscillators). A novel method which enables to determine the molecular potential energy surfaces from a measured absorption or emission spectra is proposed. The method employs the matching of Wigner transforms of individual quantum recurrences with the two-dimensional classical survival probability.