Accurate piecewise centroid calculation algorithm for wavefront measurement in adaptive optics.

Abstract

Adaptive optics using direct wavefront sensing (direct AO) is widely used in two-photon microscopy to correct sample-induced aberrations and restore diffraction-limited performance at high speeds. In general, the direct AO method employs a Sharked-Hartman wavefront sensor (SHWS) to directly measure the aberrations through a spot array. However, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of spots in SHWS varies significantly within deep tissues, presenting challenges for accurately locating spot centroids over a large SNR range, particularly under extremely low SNR conditions. To address this issue, we propose a piecewise centroid calculation algorithm called GCP, which integrates three optimal algorithms for accurate spot centroid calculations under high-, medium-, and low-SNR conditions. Simulations and experiments demonstrate that the GCP can accurately measure aberrations over a large SNR range and exhibits robustness under extremely low-SNR conditions. Importantly, GCP improves the AO working depth by 150 µm compared to the conventional algorithm.