Patent ID: 7924432

Claim:
A method, comprising: optically actuating an optical source in a sample that extends generally along a sample plane defined by first and second orthogonal dimensions to cause the optical source to emit optical beams in a plurality of propagation directions; interfering two or more optical beams emitted from the optical source to produce a plurality of output beams directed to a plurality of detectors; determining a position of the optical source in the first orthogonal dimension and the second orthogonal dimension based on a center region of an image of each output beam from the plurality of output beams; determining a set of possible positions of the optical source in a third orthogonal dimension that is perpendicular to the sample plane based on separately detected intensities of each of the plurality of output beams; analyzing the shape of an image of one or more of an optical beam and an output beam based on a wavefront modification that varies with the position of the optical source in the third orthogonal dimension, wherein the wavefront modification is a modification of one or more of a curvature and a shape of a wavefront of at least one optical beam emitted from the optical source; and determining the position of the optical source in the third orthogonal dimension out of the possible set of positions based on the analyzed shape.