Robust wavefront segment registration based on a parallel approach.

Abstract

This paper presents a robust registration algorithm for wavefront reconstruction from multiple partial measurements. Wavefronts exceeding the dynamic range or size of the Shack-Hartmann sensor can be measured as a set of segments. The wavefront is reconstructed by parallel registration of these wavefront segments, enabling compensation for sensor misalignment as well as for phase differences. For registration, a global mismatch metric is minimized by rigid body transformations and propagation of the wavefront segments. Apart from the description of the algorithm, a simulation-based evaluation and comparison to the iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm is performed. It is shown that in the case of a noisy data set, the parallel approach enables reconstruction errors that are a factor of 10 smaller than the result obtained with the ICP algorithm.