Phase-Shifting Zernike Interferometer Wavefront Sensor

The canonical Zernike phase-contrast technique(1,2,3,4) transforms a phase object in one plane into an intensity object in the conjugate plane. This is done by applying a static pi/2 phase shift to the central core (similar to lambda/D) of the PSF which is intermediate between the input and output planes. Here we present a new architecture for this sensor. First, the optical system is simple and all reflective. Second, the phase shift in the central core of the PSF is dynamic and or arbitrary size. This common-path, all-reflective design makes it minimally sensitive to vibration, polarization and wavelength. We review the theory of operation, describe the optical system, summarize numerical simulations and sensitivities and review results from a laboratory demonstration of this novel instrument.