The point-spread function (PSF) plays a fundamental role in deciding the resolution of an optical microscope. One way to find the experimental PSF is to image sub-resolution nanobead. However, the PSF can also be approximated numerically by knowing the optical arrangement of the imaging system. In this paper, we estimate the experimental three-dimensional PSF of a widefield microscope by taking several z-stacks of an arbitrary target, followed by application of our 2D PSF estimation scheme to each z slice. Here we use a standard resolution test target as the arbitrary target whose geometrical-optics predicted image can be easily constructed.
The wavefront measurement accuracy of a grating array based zonal wavefront sensor (GAWS) can be affected by the non-uniform focal spot array and unwanted orders in the detector plane. The non-uniform focal spot array is the outcome of the non-uniform nature of the incident illumination beam’s intensity profile. This paper describes a method that dynamically modulates the laser beam’s intensity using computer generated holography, making the focal spot array uniform and eliminating unwanted spots in a detector plane, thereby enhancing the accuracy of the wavefront measurement. Here, we present proof-of-principle simulation results that demonstrate the working of the proposed improvements in GAWS.
Astigmatism has a very unique ability to change the shape of the intensity profile of an optical beam as we move away on either side of the focal plane of the optical system. This property of astigmatism can be used to measure the focussing error or the amplitude of defocus present at the plane of measurement. The use of astigmatism to measure focussing error is a very simple and easily implementable process. Astigmatism can be introduced with the help of an astigmatic lens. The approach provides a direct measure of the amplitude of defocus present in an optical beam from the measure of the intensity at the focal plane. In this paper we put forward a theoretical discussion on the above mentioned approach.
A modal wavefront sensor is known for its quick detection, flexibility and simplicity in the measurement of the various aberration modes (in the form of an orthogonal basis set such as the Zernike modes) present in the wavefront of an incident beam. But the output of these type of sensor suffers from inter-modal crosstalk that may arise due to the coexistence of a large number of aberration modes in the incident beam. This leads to degradation of the quality of the sensor output, resulting in inaccuracy in the measurement of aberration modes. Booth et al. provided an optimized expression of the sensor output that reduced the inter-modal cross-talk and improved the linear response of the sensor to a great extent. However, the issue of cross-talk still persists and the sensor for a particular mode is still vulnerable to the presence of other modes. In the present work, we present an analytical study of the influence of inter-modal cross-talk on the output of a holographic modal wavefront sensor for various aberration modes. Theoretical, simulation and experimental results are presented for better visualization of the cross-talk effect.
Cross-talk between different modes has always been an intrinsic issue of a modal wavefront sensor. Efforts have been put to reduce the effect of these inter-modal cross-talk either by varying the detector aperture or by changing the mode of intensity measurement at the detector. Since the modal wavefront sensor considers the incident wavefront as a linear combination of some orthogonal basis set, say the Zernike polynomials, the presence of cross-talk between the different modes of these basis set greatly affects the sensor output. As a result the measure of the modal content of the various orthogonal modes in the incident wavefront are affected, leading to inaccuracy in measurements. In this work we present a new method of measurement of the orthogonal modes present in an incident wavefront. The proposed method can be considered as a modified version of the modal wavefront sensing technique proposed by Neil et al, having advantages in terms of cross-talk reduction between modes and linearity enhancement, in the process of measurement of various orthogonal modes present in the incident wavefront. In this paper we also present some of our simulation results in support of our proposed sensing technique.
Liquid Crystal Spatial Light Modulators (LCSLM) are of great importance in various scientific applications such as adaptive optics, optical microscopy, optical trapping etc., due to their capability to dynamically reconfigure the amplitude, phase and polarization profiles of the incoming beam. Here LCSLMs are basically used to display computer generated holograms which give rise to diffraction orders. Recently we have observed that the fluctuations in both the diffracted and undiffracted beam, which may cause great disturbances in the applications, have a close relationship with the power on-off instants of the LCSLM. Thus there exists some link between the heat dissipation from the LCSLM panel and the beam fluctuations. In this paper we provide a detailed investigation on the cause and nature of the beam fluctuations in the LCSLM.
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