Partitioned aperture wavefront imaging

A wavefront imager provides images of the phase and amplitude of a wavefront. Several techniques for wavefront imaging have been developed. Most of these involve the use of a laser, and are thus susceptible to speckle noise. Techniques that do not require a laser generally require collimated light, meaning they are not light efficient, or require moving parts and the acquisition of multiple images, meaning they are slow. We have recently developed a wavefront imager that is fast (single shot), achromatic (works with broadband light), light efficient (works with extended sources), and simple. The technique is based on partitioning the detection aperture of a standard microscope into four quadrants with the use of four off-axis lens. These lenses provide four oblique detection images that are simultaneously acquired with a single camera. The data provided by these four images enables the reconstruction of wavefront phase and amplitude with a simple numerical algorithm that runs in real time (video rate).

17. Surface topography of 4 pixels of a deformable mirror/ Topography calculated based on phase-gradient images acquired by a PAW microscope in reflection mode. Image acquisition was video rate. Topography precision is about 3nm.
Reconstructed phase image based on phase-gradient images acquired by trans-illumination PAW microscope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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