Wavefront Control and Image Restoration With Less Computing

PseudoDiversity is a method of recovering the wavefront in a sparse- or segmented-aperture optical system typified by an interferometer or a telescope equipped with an adaptive primary mirror consisting of controllably slightly moveable segments. (PseudoDiversity should not be confused with a radio-antenna-arraying method called “pseudo-diversity”.) As in the cases of other wave-front-recovery methods, the streams of wavefront data generated by means of PseudoDiversity are used as feedback signals for controlling electromechanical actuators of the various segments so as to correct wavefront errors and thereby, for example, obtain a clearer, steadier image of a distant object in the presence of atmospheric turbulence. There are numerous potential applications in astronomy, remote sensing from aircraft and spacecraft, targeting missiles, sighting military targets, and medical imaging (including microscopy) through such intervening media as cells or water. In comparison with prior wavefront-recovery methods used in adaptive optics, PseudoDiversity involves considerably simpler equipment and procedures and less computation.