Wavefront measurement over an extended horizontal path using a wavefront curvature sensor

This paper reports on the results of wavefront curvature sensor measurements over horizontal paths of 66 m and 4 km. The wavefront curvature sensor used has been developed at QinetiQ and is based on the use of a quadratically distorted diffraction grating to enable the simultaneous recording of two symmetrically separated planes about the entrance pupil of a telescope. The measurements allow us to characterize the spatio-temporal nature of the wavefront errors and therefore enable us to estimate the wavefront sensor (WFS) and deformable mirror (DM) requirements for the development of an adaptive optic system (AOS). For the 66 m path the dynamic range and frame-rate of the WITS camera was found to be adequate to drive the AOS, although the software based control resulted in intermittent performance. The data for the 4 km path suggested that the frame-rate of the WFS camera was at least a factor of 3 slower than would be necessary to either drive the AOS or make any detailed conclusions about the spatial analysis.