Wavefront phase representation by Zernike and spline models: a comparison

A comparative analysis of spline and Zernike models is presented for wavefront phase construction. The techniques are analyzed on the basis of representation accuracy, computational costs, and the number of samples used for representation. The strengths and weaknesses of each model over a set of various wavefront phases with different domain shapes are analyzed. The findings show that both models efficiently represent a simple wavefront phase at irregular domain shapes. On the other hand, when complex wavefront phases at irregular domain shapes are represented, the spline model performs much better than the Zernike model. Further, results show that the spline model evaluation speed is significantly faster than the Zernike model.