Development of a dual-sensor-based robust adaptive optics system

Abstract

In the present work, we introduce a novel dual-sensor-based adaptive optics system that combines zonal and modal wavefront sensing within a single optical configuration, which is capable of correcting complex aberrations like those from severe atmospheric turbulence. The proposed system uses a single liquid crystal spatial light modulator and a single detector, to reduce hardware complexity while improving performance. For zonal sensing, an array of programmable grating elements is used to generate an array of two-dimensional +1 diffracted orders, while modal sensing uses a multiplexed hologram to produce multiple pairs of biased diffraction orders. The programmable design allows seamless integration of both the sensing methods, offering flexibility and resilience not found in conventional adaptive optics systems. Experimental results demonstrate its effectiveness under strong atmospheric turbulence (in laboratory settings), with real-time sensor parameter optimization.