Piston and tilt interferometry for segmented wavefront sensing

We present a novel interferometric technique dedicated to the measurement of relative phase differences (pistons) and tilts of a periodically segmented wavefront. Potential applications include co-phasing of segmented mirrors of Keck-like telescopes as well as coherent laser beam combining. The setup only requires a holes mask selecting the center part of each element, a diffracting component, and a camera. Recorded interferogram is made of many subareas with sinusoidal fringe pattern. From each pattern, piston is extracted from fringe shift and tilts from fringe frequency and orientation. The pattern analysis is simple enough to enable kilohertz rate operation. The λ ambiguities are solved by a two-wavelength measurement. This technique is compatible with a very high number of elements and can be operated in the presence of atmospheric turbulence.