Wave-front reconstruction for compensated imaging

Abstract

A critical component in a compensated imaging (CI) system is the wave-front sensor which measures the residual distortion of the wave front after reflecting off the active mirror. The sensor produces estimates of wave-front slopes or phase difference across the aperture. For many applications, the phase differences or slopes are not the most convenient form of data for processing or control, and they must be converted to absolute wave-front phases. This paper analyzes the conversion from phase differences to phases and derives the optimal linear estimator in terms of least noise propagation. Some remarks concerning hardware implementation are also made.