Date of Award
12-1993
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering
Department
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
First Advisor
Byron M. Welsh, PhD
Abstract
The resolution of optical imaging systems is severely degraded from the diffraction limit by the random effects of the atmosphere. Techniques exist to compensate for the atmospheric turbulence, one of which is adaptive optics. A critical component in the adaptive optics system is the wavefront sensor. Presently, two types of sensors are being used-the Hartmann-Shack Wavefront Sensor and the Shearing Interferometer. Previous studies have compared these two sensors and found them to perform identically for a point source. However, to date, no comparison has been performed for an extended source and subaperture spacing larger than the correlation length of the atmosphere, ro. This thesis has examined this problem and compared these two sensors for the above conditions. Results indicate that the sensors have comparable performance when an infinite number of photons are available. However, the photon limited cases indicate superior performance by the Hartmann Sensor.
AFIT Designator
AFIT-GE-ENG-93D-31
DTIC Accession Number
ADA274031
Recommended Citation
Pennington, Timothy L., "Performance Comparison of Shearing Interferometer and Hartmann Wave Front Sensors" (1993). Theses and Dissertations. 6713.
https://scholar.afit.edu/etd/6713