Comparison of Shack-Hartmann and digital holographic wavefront sensing using a benchtop turbulence generator

Timothy J. Bukowski; Matthew Kalensky; Darren Getts; Stanislav Gordeyev

doi:10.1117/12.3026892

7 October 2024 Comparison of Shack-Hartmann and digital holographic wavefront sensing using a benchtop turbulence generator

Timothy J. Bukowski, Matthew Kalensky, Darren Getts, Stanislav Gordeyev

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 13149, Unconventional Imaging, Sensing, and Adaptive Optics 2024; 1314910 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3026892
Event: Optical Engineering + Applications, 2024, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

This work presents a comprehensive characterization of a benchtop optical-turbulence simulator system using a Shack—Hartmann (SH) wavefront sensor, an off-axis digital holography (DH) wavefront sensor, and a far-field imaging camera. The system employs two spatial-light modulators (SLMs) to impose turbulent phase screens with prescribed statistics onto a laser beam, simulating atmospheric turbulence. We conduct tests to compare the system’s performance against wave-optics simulations by varying turbulence strength, varying the modeled propagation distance, and using both SLMs to model beam propagation. The results show that the DH wavefront measurements have a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.02–0.03 µm compared to the simulated wavefronts, while the SH measurements have a RMSE of 0.02–0.05 µm compared to the DH wavefront measurements. We also assess the system’s ability to model beam propagation. Here, we find that the extent of phase disagreement increases with increasing propagation distances. Overall, the results of a Monte–Carlo simulation that models a 25 cm beam along a 1 km path reveal that DH measurements closely match the known turbulence parameters whereas the SH measurements generally underestimate turbulence strength. At large, this work informs system designers of how different wavefront sensors perform in varying optical-turbulence conditions.

Conference Presentation

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

Timothy J. Bukowski, Matthew Kalensky, Darren Getts, and Stanislav Gordeyev "Comparison of Shack-Hartmann and digital holographic wavefront sensing using a benchtop turbulence generator", Proc. SPIE 13149, Unconventional Imaging, Sensing, and Adaptive Optics 2024, 1314910 (7 October 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3026892

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