Point-diffraction interferometer for atmospheric adaptive optics in strong scintillation

This paper evaluates the performance of a point-diffraction interferometer for closed-loop adaptive optics. A point-diffraction interferometer was built using a modified Mach-Zehnder set-up. The system was used in closed-loop using a SLM to implement a square, 12 × 12, piston-only segmented corrector with a stroke of ±π. Its performance was tested for the case of atmospheric turbulence aberrations. The investigation showed, through simulation and experiment, that the point-diffraction interferometer worked in closed-loop operation in both uniform intensity and scintillated aberrations. Its robustness in the presence of phase discontinuities makes it a promising option for wavefront sensing in strong scintillation.