Abstract

The liquid-crystal wave-front scanner (LCWS) is a highly sensitive wave-front sensor suited to the measurement of aberrations in optical systems and, more generally, of static wave fronts, and it is based on the Hartmann test. In the LCWS an incoming wave front is scanned sequentially by a programmable moving aperture that is implemented by use of a liquid-crystal display. The position of the diffraction spot is recorded behind an observation lens with a CCD detector and provides an estimation of the local slopes in two orthogonal directions at the aperture position. The wave front is then reconstructed from slope data by use of a least-squares method. Experiments are reported for nearly planar wave fronts as well as for strongly aberrated wave fronts, demonstrating both the large dynamic range and the great sensitivity of the LCWS. The LCWS is compared with the Shack–Hartmann wave-front sensor in terms of dynamic range and sensitivity.

© 2000 Optical Society of America

Hartmann wave-front scanner

Vincent Laude, Ségolène Olivier, Carine Dirson, and Jean-Pierre Huignard
Opt. Lett. 24(24) 1796-1798 (1999)

Sorting method to extend the dynamic range of the Shack–Hartmann wave-front sensor

Junwon Lee, Roland V. Shack, and Michael R. Descour
Appl. Opt. 44(23) 4838-4845 (2005)

Wave-front reconstruction with a Shack–Hartmann sensor with an iterative spline fitting method

Sascha Groening, Bernhard Sick, Klaus Donner, Johannes Pfund, Norbert Lindlein, and Johannes Schwider
Appl. Opt. 39(4) 561-567 (2000)

Position and displacement sensing with Shack–Hartmann wave-front sensors

Jorge Ares, Teresa Mancebo, and Salvador Bará
Appl. Opt. 39(10) 1511-1520 (2000)

Shack Hartmann wave-front measurement with a large F-number plastic microlens array

Geun Young Yoon, Takahisa Jitsuno, Masahiro Nakatsuka, and Sadao Nakai
Appl. Opt. 35(1) 188-192 (1996)