Principles of Wavefront Sensing and Reconstruction

A variety of approaches to wavefront sensing and reconstruction are surveyed as they are used in adaptive optics and related applications. These include the Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm; shearing interferometry; and Shack-Hartmann, curvature, and pyramid wavefront sensing. Emphasis is placed on the relevant optics and mathematics, which are developed in some detail for Shack-Hartmann and curvature sensing (currently the two most widely-used approaches) and also to a lesser extent for pyramid sensing. Examples are given throughout.