Development and implementation of crossed-sine wavefront sensor for simultaneous high spatial resolution imaging

The crossed-sine wavefront sensor (WFS), which is based on a gradient transmission filter (GTF) and a 2´2 minilens array (MLA), enables simultaneous achromatic imaging at a high spatial resolution. The GTF is formed by four circular sub-apertures with the crossed-sine pattern for spatial filtering, producing four initial images. The 2´2 MLA, which is placed on the image plane of the optical system, is adjusted to transfer the image of the exit pupil onto the detector array. In this paper, we present the design of the GTF and MLA, and some preliminary experimental tests of the crossed-sine WFS system. For the first prototype, a spatial light modulator (SLM) is utilized to simulate the GTF functions, and an achromat is applied to transfers the pupil images instead of the MLA. The pupil image and the wavefront error have been obtained. This crossed-sine WFS imaging system is user-friendly and will serve a large range of high throughput applications in astronomy, biomedicine and metrology.