Phase sensor for solar adaptive-optics
arXiv:1104.2560 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201116835
Abstract
Wavefront sensing in solar adaptive-optics is currently done with correlating Shack-Hartmann sensors, although the spatial- and temporal-resolutions of the phase measurements are then limited by the extremely fast computing required to correlate the sensor signals at the frequencies of daytime atmospheric-fluctuations. To avoid this limitation, a new wavefront-sensing technique is presented, that makes use of the solar brightness and is applicable to extended sources. The wavefront is sent through a modified Mach-Zehnder interferometer. A small, central part of the wavefront is used as reference and is made to interfere with the rest of the wavefront. The contrast of two simultaneously measured interference-patterns provides a direct estimate of the wavefront phase, no additional computation being required. The proposed optical layout shows precise initial alignment to be the critical point in implementing the new wavefront-sensing scheme.
Accepted for publication in A&A