Abstract

Wavefront measuring systems currently in use in adaptive optics (AO) indirectly measure wavefront distortions. The wavefront is then reconstructed using various estimation methods. The advantages of these wavefront sensors are light efficiency and speed, however systematic errors and error propagation pose real concerns over their performance on large aperture telescopes. A new instrument which uses phase shifting interferometry on a bright star to directly map the wavefront phase errors in the pupil plane is intended not as a system component but as a calibration tool for the more efficient wavefront sensors actually used in AO systems.

© 1992 Optical Society of America