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 than (lambda)/100 peak to valley across a diameter of 6mm. For example, this method allowed us to balance aberrations and prepare collimated beams with wavefronts that are plane to (lambda)/500 across 1mm.