Abstract: An adaptive optics imaging system uses a double pumped phase conjugate mirror (DPCM) to compensate for phase, amplitude or polarization aberrations imposed upon a multi-pixel object beam. A remote reference beam is used to sample an aberrating medium through which the object beam is transmitted, and forms a shared hologram in a two-beam coupling medium with a local reference beam having known phase characteristics, generally plane-wave. An output beam is produced in the phase conjugate direction of the local reference beam, with the pixelized difference in phase characteristics between the output and local reference beams corresponding to the pixelized difference in phase characteristics between the object and remote reference beams; the remote reference beam is also preferably planar.

Abstract: An extended scene wavefront sensing apparatus and procedure that separates (deconvolves) scene effects from wavefront errors of an optical or similar system. The present wavefront sensing apparatus and procedure uses a point source wavefront slope sensor in scene scanning mode and estimates wavefront errors by using a cross-correlation or cross-coherence procedure that operates on the outputs of the point source wavefront slope sensor. A signal processing procedure employed by the point source wavefront slope sensor provides output signals corresponding to wavefront slopes at forward optics pupil locations geometrically projected to the location of the transmission and reflection measurement plane detector pairs. During the scanning process, each of the detector pairs (equivalent to a subaperture) measures the effects of the local unchanging wavefront error in the forward optical system and temporal variations due to the scanning scene.