Patent ID: 7161128
Filing Date: 2007-01-09
Classification: G01J,G02B

Abstract:
1. An optical instrument employing a wavefront sensor capable of coarse and fine phase measurement capabilities during first and second modes of operation, respectively, said wavefront sensor comprising: optical elements for spatially sampling incident light and forming a dispersed spot with a fringe pattern corresponding to samples of the incident light; an imaging device for capturing an image of the dispersed spot with said fringe pattern formed by said optical elements; and an image processor for analyzing the spatial frequency of the fringe pattern of a given dispersed spot to derive, without ambiguity, a measure of local phase distortion in the corresponding sample of incident light; wherein, during said first mode of operation, the measured phase distortion is relatively large, and provides a coarse measure of phase distortion measurement without ambiguity; and wherein during said second mode of operation, the measured phase distortion is relatively small, and provides a finer measure of phase distortion measurement without ambiguity.