Orthonormalization of phase-only basis functions

TL;DR

This paper introduces a general method to construct orthonormal phase-only basis functions for optical fields, improving wavefront shaping performance by 1.5 times over non-orthonormal bases, with potential applications in optics.

Contribution

The authors develop a novel method to generate orthonormal phase-only basis functions that can incorporate properties like smoothness and symmetry.

Findings

Achieved a 1.5-fold performance increase in wavefront shaping.

Demonstrated the practical utility of the orthonormal phase-only basis.

Provided a general framework applicable to optical field representation.

Abstract

Orthonormal bases serve as a powerful mathematical tool in theoretical and experimental optics. However, producing arbitrary optical fields in real-world experiments is limited by the hardware, which in many cases involves a phase-only spatial light modulator. Since most basis functions also have a varying amplitude component, they cannot be represented truthfully. We present a general method to construct an orthonormal phase-only basis, optionally possessing desirable properties like smoothness and symmetry. We demonstrate the practical benefit of our approach in a wavefront shaping experiment, achieving a factor 1.5 increase in performance over a non-orthonormal phase only basis.