Calibration of a Shack-Hartmann sensor for absolute measurements of wavefronts

We demonstrate a method with which to calibrate a Shack-Hartmann sensor for absolute wavefront measurement of collimated laser beams. Nearly perfect spherical wavefronts originating from a single-mode fiber were used as references. After the calibration, the uncertainty of the wavefront was less tha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied optics (2004) 2005-10, Vol.44 (30), p.6419-6425
Main Authors: Chernyshov, Alexander, Sterr, Uwe, Riehle, Fritz, Helmcke, Jürgen, Pfund, Johannes
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:We demonstrate a method with which to calibrate a Shack-Hartmann sensor for absolute wavefront measurement of collimated laser beams. Nearly perfect spherical wavefronts originating from a single-mode fiber were used as references. After the calibration, the uncertainty of the wavefront was less than lambda/100 peak to valley across a diameter of 6 mm. For example, this method allowed us to balance aberrations and prepare collimated beams with wavefronts that are plane to lambda/500 across 1 mm.
ISSN:1559-128X
DOI:10.1364/ao.44.006419