Wavefront sensors (WFS) have now become core components in the fields of metrology of optical systems, biomedical optics, or adaptive optics systems for astronomy. However, none of the designs used or proposed so far achieve simultaneously a high spatial resolution at the pupil of the tested optical system and absolute measurement accuracy comparable to those of modern laser-interferometers. This paper presents an improved WFS concept that reaches both previous goals. The device is named Crossed-Sine Phase wavefront Sensor (CSPS) and is based on a fully transparent gradient phase filter located inside a small, compact measurement head. The theoretical principle of the sensor is described in Fourier optics formalism. Numerical simulations confirm that a measurement accuracy of /100 RMS is achievable. The CSPS also offers the advantages of being quasi-achromatic and working on spatially or spectrally extended natural or artificial light sources.
Wavefront sensors (WFS) have now become core components in the fields of metrology of optical systems, biomedical optics, or adaptive optics systems for astronomy. However, none of the designs defined so far achieves simultaneously a high spatial resolution at the pupil of the tested optics and absolute measurement accuracy comparable to that of laser-interferometers. This paper presents an improved WFS design that reaches both previous goals. The device is named Crossed-sine phase sensor (CSPS) and is based on a fully transparent Gradient phase filter (GPF) whose virtual image is located forward or backward the exit pupil of the tested optical system. After briefly summarizing the theoretical principle of the CSPS, we describe four different optical layouts meeting its requirements and evaluate them with the help of Zemax modeling. We finally select the best optical design and discuss the achieved optical performance.
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