Calibration and testing with real turbulence of a pyramid sensor employing static modulation

Abstract

The pyramid sensor (PS) is an interesting alternative to the Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (SH WFS) for astronomical Adaptive Optics (AO) because of its potential advantages in sensitivity and applicability to novel wavefront sensing schemes. The PS uses a pyramidal prism to perform a knife-edge test in two dimensions simultaneously and relies on modulating the position of the prism to increase the linear dynamic range. It has been suggested that this could also be accomplished by a static diffusing element. We test this idea and show that the diffuser produces a modulation effect. We compare the results of our PS to a SH WFS measuring spatial and temporal properties of real turbulence produced in the lab with a hot-air turbulence generator.