A hybrid curvature/shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor for adaptive optics

Summary form only given. The growing availability and relative low-cost of continuous surface deformable mirrors such as bimorph and electrostatic MEMS membrane mirrors´ makes them increasingly attractive for adaptive optics (AO) systems, particularly low-cost systems. Both of these mirror types are curvature devices: each actuator input directly controls the curvature of the mirror´s surface in front of that actuator. Curvature wavefront sensing is suited to AO systems using these devices, where it can considerably simplify the spatial control of the system, enabling the construction of very efficient systems.