Abstract
Adaptive optics (AO) methods are widely used in microscopes to improve image quality through correction of phase aberrations. A range of wavefront-sensorless AO schemes exist, such as modal, pupil segmentation zonal, and pixelated piston-based methods. Each of these has a different physical implementation that makes direct comparisons difficult. Here, we propose a framework that fits in all sensorless AO methods and facilitates systematic comparisons among them. We introduce a general model for the aberration representation that encompasses many existing methods. Through modeling and experimental verification in a two-photon microscope, we compared sensorless AO schemes with a range of aberration representations to correct both simulated and sample induced aberrations. The results show that different representations can provide a better basis for correction in different experimental scenarios, which can inform the choice of sensorless AO schemes for a particular application.
Highlights
Adaptive optics (AO) is often used in microscopes to compensate phase aberrations introduced by optical inhomogeneities in specimens and to restore near-diffraction-limited operation.1–4 This is achieved by estimating aberrations through the use of a wavefront sensor or through indirect optimization approaches
We show that one of the main differences between a range of common sensorless AO methods lies in the representation basis used for aberration correction
We have brought together a range of image-based wavefrontsensorless AO methods into the same framework. This has permitted for the first time a systematic fair comparison of different aberration representations for sensorless AO schemes
Summary
Adaptive optics (AO) is often used in microscopes to compensate phase aberrations introduced by optical inhomogeneities in specimens and to restore near-diffraction-limited operation. This is achieved by estimating aberrations through the use of a wavefront sensor or through indirect optimization approaches. Adaptive optics (AO) is often used in microscopes to compensate phase aberrations introduced by optical inhomogeneities in specimens and to restore near-diffraction-limited operation.1–4 This is achieved by estimating aberrations through the use of a wavefront sensor or through indirect optimization approaches. Scitation.org/journal/app mentioned above) lies in the representation basis used for aberration correction We used this framework to conduct a fair, side-byside comparison between the various bases. We explored the effectiveness of these different bases when correcting aberrations of different frequencies and amplitudes under different signal to noise ratios (SNRs) By systematically investigating this broad spectrum of aberration representations, we proposed guidelines for the selection of sensorless AO schemes and provided possibilities for other sensorless correction schemes that could be tailored to particular applications
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