Analysis on Shack–Hartmann wave-front sensor with.pdf

ARTICLE IN PRESS Optics Laser Technology 39 (2007) 1374–1379 /locate/optlastec Analysis on Shack–Hartmann wave-front sensor with Fourier optics Yang Dai, Faquan Li, Xuewu Cheng, Zhiling Jiang, Shunsheng Gong National Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 71010, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, China Received 20 January 2006; received in revised form 1 October 2006; accepted 30 October 2006 Available online 16 January 2007 Abstract In Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWS), the behavior of the irradiance pattern produced by the micro-lens array is important for an accurate centroid estimation. In this paper, the behavior of a micro-lens array in SHWS is analyzed using Fourier optics, and reveals that in addition to the main, expected spots, secondary spots with smaller intensities also appeared as a result of diffraction by the small dimensions of the micro-lens and interference from the different micro-lenses. This result is confirmed by comparing with a irradiance pattern taken from an actual SHWS. The additional error in centroid estimation caused by these secondary spots is discussed and relationship to the parameters of the micro-lens of SHWS is analyzed. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor; Micro-lens array; Fourier optics 1. Introduction usually small, to match the small size of CCD. The number