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We present a promising approach to the extremely fast sensing and correction of small wavefront errors in adaptive optics systems. As our algorithm's computational complexity is roughly proportional to the number of actuators, it is…
Fourier-based wavefront sensors, such as the Pyramid Wavefront Sensor (PWFS), are the current preference for high contrast imaging due to their high sensitivity. However, these wavefront sensors have intrinsic nonlinearities that constrain…
We investigate the improvements in Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor image processing that can be realised using total variation minimisation techniques to remove noise from these images. We perform Monte-Carlo simulation to demonstrate that…
The estimation of atmospheric turbulence parameters is of relevance for: a) site evaluation & characterisation; b) prediction of the point spread function; c) live assessment of error budgets and optimisation of adaptive optics performance;…
The Giant Magellan Telescope will use laser tomography adaptive optics to correct for atmospheric turbulence using artificial guide stars created in the sodium layer of the atmosphere (altitude ~95km). The sodium layer has appreciable…
The performance of adaptive optics systems is partially dependant on the algorithms used within the real-time control system to compute wavefront slope measurements. We demonstrate use of a matched filter algorithm for the processing of…
Strong turbulence conditions create amplitude aberrations through the effects of near-field diffraction. When integrated over long optical path lengths, amplitude aberrations (seen as scintillation) can nullify local areas in the recorded…
The nonlinear curvature wavefront sensor (nlCWFS) uses multiple (typically four) out-of-focus images to reconstruct the phase and amplitude of a propagating light beam. Because these images are located between the pupil and focal planes,…
Laser guide stars (LGS) are used in many adaptive optics systems to extend sky coverage. The most common wavefront sensor used in combination with a LGS is a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWFS). The Shack-Hartmann has a major…
We use telemetry data from the Gemini North ALTAIR adaptive optics system to investigate how well the commands for wavefront correction (both Tip/Tilt and high-order turbulence) can be forecasted in order to reduce lag error (due to…
Wavefront reconstruction is a critical component in various optical systems, including adaptive optics, interferometry, and phase contrast imaging. Traditional reconstruction methods often employ either the Cartesian (pixel) basis or the…
High-contrast imaging instruments need extreme wavefront control to directly image exoplanets. This requires highly sensitive wavefront sensors which optimally make use of the available photons to sense the wavefront. Here, we propose to…
The use of Fourier methods in wave-front reconstruction can significantly reduce the computation time for large telescopes with a high number of degrees of freedom. However, Fourier algorithms for discrete data require a rectangular data…
A pupil plane wavefront reconstruction procedure is proposed based on analysis of a sequence of focal plane images corresponding to a sequence of random pupil plane phase probes. The developed method provides the unique nontrivial solution…
To directly image Earth-like planets, contrast levels of 10^-8 - 10^-10 are required. The next generation of instruments will need wavefront control below the nanometer level to achieve these goals. The Zernike wavefront sensor (ZWFS) is a…
We present a liquid crystal method of correcting the phase of an aberrated wavefront using a spatial light modulator. A simple and efficient lab model has been demonstrated for wavefront correction. The crux of a wavefront correcting system…
Precise centroid estimation plays a critical role in accurate astrometry using telescope images. Conventional centroid estimation fits a template point spread function (PSF) to the image data. Because the PSF is typically not known to high…
Wavefront sensors have now become core components in the fields of metrology of optical systems, biomedical optics, and adaptive optics systems for astronomy. However, none of the designs used or proposed so far achieve simultaneously a…
In this paper we propose a method of corner detection for obtaining features which is required to track and recognize objects within a noisy image. Corner detection of noisy images is a challenging task in image processing. Natural images…
(abridged) Extreme adaptive optics (XAO) encounters severe difficulties to cope with the high speed (>1kHz), high accuracy and high order requirements for future extremely large telescopes. An innovative high order adaptive optics system…