Analog holographic wavefront sensor for defocus and spherical aberration measurement recorded in a photopolymer

An analog holographic wavefront sensor (AHWFS), for measurement of low and high order (defocus and spherical aberration) aberration modes has been developed as volume phase holograms in a photopolymer recording medium. This is the first time that high order aberrations such as spherical aberration can be sensed using a volume hologram in a photosensitive medium. Both defocus and spherical aberration were recorded in a multi-mode version of this AHWFS. Refractive elements were used to generate a maximum and minimum phase delay of each aberration which were multiplexed as a set of volume phase holograms in an acrylamide based-photopolymer layer. The single-mode sensors showed a high degree of accuracy in determining various magnitudes of defocus and spherical aberration generated refractively. The multi-mode sensor also exhibited promising measurement characteristics and similar trends to the single-mode sensors were observed. The method of quantifying defocus was improved upon and a brief study into material shrinkage and sensor linearity is presented.