Using the generalised-optical differentiation wavefront sensor for laser guide star wavefront sensing

TL;DR

This paper proposes the use of the generalized-Optical Differentiation Wavefront Sensor (g-ODWFS) for laser guide star wavefront sensing, demonstrating advantages over traditional Shack-Hartmann sensors through simulation results.

Contribution

The paper introduces the g-ODWFS as a new wavefront sensor for LGS, highlighting its efficiency, reduced noise, and elimination of calibration needs compared to existing sensors.

Findings

g-ODWFS uses only 4 pixels per sub-aperture

g-ODWFS has little to no aliasing noise

g-ODWFS shows improved performance in simulations

Abstract

Laser guide stars (LGS) are used in many adaptive optics systems to extend sky coverage. The most common wavefront sensor used in combination with a LGS is a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWFS). The Shack-Hartmann has a major disadvantage for extended source wavefront sensing because it directly samples the image. In this proceeding we propose to use the generalized-Optical Differentation Wavefront Sensor (g-ODWFS) a wavefront sensor for wavefront sensing of LGS. The g-ODWFS uses only 4 pixels per sub-aperture, has little to no aliasing noise and therefore no spurious low-order errors and has no need for centroid gain calibrations. In this proceeding we show the results of simulations that compare the g-ODWFS with the SHWFS.