Coronagraph-based wavefront sensors for the high Strehl regime

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new coronagraph-based wavefront sensor, the bivortex WFS, which achieves near-ultimate sensitivity in high Strehl regimes, enabling improved high-contrast astronomical imaging.

Contribution

It proposes a novel wavefront sensor design based on high-performance coronagraph architecture, linking ideal sensing with coronagraphy to surpass existing sensors' sensitivity.

Findings

Bivortex WFS achieves unprecedented sensitivity in simulations.

The sensor outperforms Zernike WFS, especially at low spatial frequencies.

It enables new high-contrast imaging architectures.

Abstract

A crucial component of the high-contrast instrumental chain in astronomy is the wavefront sensor (WFS). A key property of this component is its sensitivities, which reflect its ability to efficiently use incoming photons to encode the phase aberrations. This paper introduces a new class of highly sensitive wavefront sensors that approach the fundamental sensitivity limits dictated by physics. Assuming a high Strehl regime, we define what linear operator is describing the ideal WFS that would achieve maximum sensitivity. We then show that there is a substantial similarity between this ideal WFS and the second-order ideal coronagraph. Leveraging the exhibited link between ideal wavefront sensing and coronagraphy, we propose a novel WFS concept based on high-performance coronagraphic architecture : the bivortex WFS. This sensor employs charge-2 vortex masks. Simulations for an ideal system demonstrate that this sensor achieves unprecedented sensitivity, even surpassing the highly sensitive Zernike WFS class (especially for low spatial frequencies), while paving the way for new high-contrast architectures integrating simultaneous sensing and coronagraphy.