Wavefront Sensing: From Historical Roots to the State-of-the-Art

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of wavefront sensing technologies. A brief background to the field of wavefront sensing is given, and several wavefront sensors are studied in detail. Particular attention is given to the Shack-Hartmann, Phase Diversity and Curvature wavefront sensors. Interferometric and Pyramid wavefront sensors are discussed as well as Schlieren imaging, algorithmic approaches (such as image sharpening), Shack-Hartmann Curvature hybrid wavefront sensing and modal wavefront sensors.