Hughes Aircraft Company

Gon Y Shen

William P Zmek

Ker L Shu

A wavefront sensor includes a plurality of holographic optical elements (HOEs 50) that are disposed on a surface of a mirror (12) that defines a pupil, each of the HOEs diffracting a portion of an output beam for providing an associated sample beam. An optical wavefront sensor (54) has an input that is optically coupled to each of the sample beams through a low aberration optical train and through a transfer lens (54a) that focuses the sample beams at a focal plane (FP). A detector (54b) is positioned in a plane parallel to and offset from the focal plane (focus-biased) for detecting spot images of the sample beams. Each of the HOEs has a prescribed amount of optical power associated therewith for causing the associated sample beam to be focussed by the transfer lens at the plane of the detector, and further has a prescribed amount of optical tilt associated therewith for compensating for a distortion of the sample beam due to a distortion of the pupil for different FOV angles.

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Brookfield, CT, United States of America

Gon Y Shen