Iterative wavefront measuring device

Abstract

A wavefront reconstruction and measuring system detects incoming light waves with a wavefront sensor having an array of photodetectors. The sensor provides a data processor with signals indicative of phase differences between sample points on the wavefront. The measured phase differences and respective spacing of the sample points form a matrix associated with the input wavefront. The matrix has unit cells with orthogonal sides defined by the measured phase differences and with corners defined by four commonly laterally, longitudinally or diagonally adjacent sample points. The data processor iteratively modifies each measured phase difference by a fraction of the curls of unit cells or groups of unit cells comprising the side defined by the measured phase difference. The data processor iteratively modifies each measured phase difference until the curls of each unit cell relaxes to ten percent or less of its original value. The iterative processing compensates for noise error in the initial wavefront measurements and enables parallel processing so as to reduce the amount of required memory space for reconstructing and measuring the wavefront.