Computational performance comparison of wavefront reconstruction algorithms for the European Extremely Large Telescope on multi-CPU architecture

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is studying the next generation giant telescope, called the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). With a 42?m diameter primary mirror, it is a significant step from currently existing telescopes. Therefore, the E-ELT with its instruments poses new challenges in terms of cost and computational complexity for the control system, including its adaptive optics (AO). Since the conventional matrix-vector multiplication (MVM) method successfully used so far for AO wavefront reconstruction cannot be efficiently scaled to the size of the AO systems on the E-ELT, faster algorithms are needed. Among those recently developed wavefront reconstruction algorithms, three are studied in this paper from the point of view of design, implementation, and absolute speed on three multicore multi-CPU platforms. We focus on a single-conjugate AO system for the E-ELT. The algorithms are the MVM, the Fourier transform reconstructor (FTR), and the fractal iterative method (FRiM). This study enhances the scaling of these algorithms with an increasing number of CPUs involved in the computation. We discuss implementation strategies, depending on various CPU architecture constraints, and we present the first quantitative execution times so far at the E-ELT scale. MVM suffers from a large computational burden, making the current computing platform undersized to reach timings short enough for AO wavefront reconstruction. In our study, the FTR provides currently the fastest reconstruction. FRiM is a recently developed algorithm, and several strategies are investigated and presented here in order to implement it for real-time AO wavefront reconstruction, and to optimize its execution time. The difficulty to parallelize the algorithm in such architecture is enhanced. We also show that FRiM can provide interesting scalability using a sparse matrix approach.     

利用Zernike多项式对湍流波前进行波前重构

分析了利用Ｚｅｒｎｉｋｅ多项式进行波前重构时模式耦合与混淆产生的原因，以及模式耦合与混淆对受大气湍流影响的光学波前进行波前重构的精度和稳定性的影响。取除去平移的前６５项Ｚｅｒｎｉｋｅ多项式构造湍流波前。针对６１单元自适应光学系统的波前传感器子孔径布局进行仿真，通过比较Ｎｓ不同取值时的湍流波前重构精度和稳定性，得出了该条件下Ｎｓ的最佳取值。     

Generalized aliasing and its implications in modal gain optimization for multi-conjugate adaptive optics

The error of generalized aliasing associated with the limited sampling of the atmospheric turbulence volume due to the finite number of wavefront sensing directions in wide-field-of-view adaptive optics is formally defined. Following a modal approach, we extend the direct problem formulation of star-oriented multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) to model and quantify this error analytically. We show that the turbulence estimation with the least-squares reconstructor is subject to strong generalized aliasing, in particular affecting the badly seen modes, whereas with the minimum-mean-square-error reconstructor the estimation is little affected. Finally, we show that the application of modal gain optimization techniques in closed-loop MCAO systems is jeopardized by the generalized aliasing error.     

直接斜率波前复原算法的控制效果分析

建立自适应光学系统功率谱抑制函数的概念，分析了采用直接斜率波前复原算法的自适应当光学系统的控制效果，理论分析与６１单元自适应光学系统上的实验结果表明，直接斜率波前复原算法将导致控制效果下降。     

基于B样条函数的快速波前复原

从斜率复原波前是夏克-哈特曼波前传感器这一类斜率采样探测器的核心流程.传统的复原算法中,区域法对局部波前的复原效果好,但易受斜率噪声的影响,同时空间分辨率较低;模式法抗噪能力强,但没有精确复原局部波前的能力.本文提出了基于B样条函数的快速复原算法,将波前展开为B样条曲面的线性组合,并将复原问题从斜率最小二乘问题转化为泊...     

Adaptive optics with advanced phase-contrast techniques. II. High-resolution wave-front control

A wave-front control paradigm based on gradient-flow optimization is analyzed. In adaptive systems with gradient-flow dynamics, the output of the wave-front sensor is used to directly control high-resolution wavefront correctors without the need for wave-front phase reconstruction (direct-control systems). Here, adaptive direct-control systems with advanced phase-contrast wave-front sensors are analyzed theoretically, through numerical simulations, and experimentally. Adaptive system performance is studied for atmospheric-turbulence-induced phase distortions in the presence of input field intensity scintillations. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach for high-resolution adaptive optics.     

弱光61单元自适应光学系统的校正有效性分析

基于Ｚｅｒｎｉｋｅ多项式模式复原原理,分别就光学系统静态误差和大气湍流扰动引起的动态波前误差两种情况,定义了静态模式因子和动态模式因子两个变量,用来分析弱光６１单元自适应光学系统的校正有效性。     

Performance comparison of wavefront reconstruction and control algorithms for Extremely Large Telescopes

Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) are very challenging with respect to their adaptive optics (AO) requirements. Their diameters and the specifications required by the astronomical science for which they are being designed imply a huge increment in the number of degrees of freedom in the deformable mirrors. Faster algorithms are needed to implement the real-time reconstruction and control in AO at the required speed. We present the results of a study of the AO correction performance of three different algorithms applied to the case of a 42-m ELT: one considered as a reference, the matrix-vector multiply (MVM) algorithm; and two considered fast, the fractal iterative method (FrIM) and the Fourier transform reconstructor (FTR). The MVM and the FrIM both provide a maximum a posteriori estimation, while the FTR provides a least-squares one. The algorithms are tested on the European Southern Observatory (ESO) end-to-end simulator, OCTOPUS. The performance is compared using a natural guide star single-conjugate adaptive optics configuration. The results demonstrate that the methods have similar performance in a large variety of simulated conditions. However, with respect to system misregistrations, the fast algorithms demonstrate an interesting robustness.     

Laboratory demonstration of accurate and efficient nanometer-level wavefront control for extreme adaptive optics

A 32 x 32 microelectricalmechanical systems mirror is controlled in a closed-loop adaptive optics test bed with a spatially filtered wavefront sensor (WFS), Fourier transform wavefront reconstruction, and calibration of references with a high-precision interferometer. When correcting the inherent aberration of the mirror, 0.7 nm rms phase error in the controllable band is achieved. When correcting an etched phase plate with atmospheric statistics, a dark hole 10(3) deeper than the uncontrollable phase is produced in the phase power spectral density. Compensation of the mirror's influence function is done with a Fourier filter, which results in improved loop convergence. Use of the spatial filter is shown to reduce the gain variability of the WFS in a quadcell configuration.     

Modal wavefront reconstruction based on Zernike polynomials for lateral shearing interferometry: comparisons of existing algorithms

Four modal methods of reconstructing a wavefront from its difference fronts based on Zernike polynomials in lateral shearing interferometry are currently available, namely the Rimmer-Wyant method, elliptical orthogonal transformation, numerical orthogonal transformation, and difference Zernike polynomial fitting. The present study compared these four methods by theoretical analysis and numerical experiments. The results show that the difference Zernike polynomial fitting method is superior to the three other methods due to its high accuracy, easy implementation, easy extension to any high order, and applicability to the reconstruction of a wavefront on an aperture of arbitrary shape. Thus, this method is recommended for use in lateral shearing interferometry for wavefront reconstruction.     

Adaptive wavefront control with asynchronous stochastic parallel gradient descent clusters

A scalable adaptive optics (AO) control system architecture composed of asynchronous control clusters based on the stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) optimization technique is discussed. It is shown that subdivision of the control channels into asynchronous SPGD clusters improves the AO system performance by better utilizing individual and/or group characteristics of adaptive system components. Results of numerical simulations are presented for two different adaptive receiver systems based on asynchronous SPGD clusters-one with a single deformable mirror with Zernike response functions and a second with tip-tilt and segmented wavefront correctors. We also discuss adaptive wavefront control based on asynchronous parallel optimization of several local performance metrics-a control architecture referred to as distributed adaptive optics (DAO). Analysis of the DAO system architecture demonstrated the potential for significant increase of the adaptation process convergence rate that occurs due to partial decoupling of the system control clusters optimizing individual performance metrics.     

Study of a MEMS-based Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor with adjustable pupil sampling for astronomical adaptive optics

We introduce a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor for adaptive optics that enables dynamic control of the spatial sampling of an incoming wavefront using a segmented mirror microelectrical mechanical systems (MEMS) device. Unlike a conventional lenslet array, subapertures are defined by either segments or groups of segments of a mirror array, with the ability to change spatial pupil sampling arbitrarily by redefining the segment grouping. Control over the spatial sampling of the wavefront allows for the minimization of wavefront reconstruction error for different intensities of guide source and different atmospheric conditions, which in turn maximizes an adaptive optics system's delivered Strehl ratio. Requirements for the MEMS devices needed in this Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor are also presented.     

基于脉动阵列的自适应光学实时波前处理机设计

针对自适应光学系统对波前处理机高计算量、高实时性的要求,本文提出了一种基于脉动阵列的自适应光学实时波前处理方法.该方法将脉动阵列的概念引入波前处理机设计,完成了波前斜率计算、复原运算和控制运算向脉动阵列的映射,合理地建立了数据的深度流水线,同时分析了以FPGA技术实现时系统的计算延时.对于48个子孔径,61单元的自适应光学系统,以一片Xilinx Virex-Ⅱ XC2V3000芯片实现了基于脉动阵列的实时波前处理机,实验测得计算延时仅8.6μs,结果表明该方法能极大地提高系统的实时性,集成度、通用性和扩展性.     

BICGSTAB算法在波前重构和控制中的应用

自适应光学波前重构和控制对精度和实时性的要求很高。BICGSTAB算法可用于非正定对称的线性系统方程的求解,并且速度快、精度高,稳定性好。基于Fried网格,提出将BICGSTAB算法引入自适应光学波前重构和控制系统方程的求解,并与SVD以及几种常见的迭代算法(Jacobi,Seidel,SOR以及SSOR)作比较。仿真结果表明,对于121阶系统,BICGSTAB法达到0.01%精度仅仅需要不到70次的迭代;SVD法达到0.01%需要近300次;四种常见迭代方法即使104次也没有收敛。这说明BICGSTAB具有更高的速度和精度,能够更好地满足自适应光学系统实时性和精度的需要。     

Adaptive control in an adaptive optics experiment

This paper presents results from an adaptive optics experiment in which an adaptive control loop augments a classical adaptive optics feedback loop. Closed-loop wavefront errors measured by a self-referencing interferometer are fed back to the control loops, which drive a membrane deformable mirror to correct the wavefront. The paper introduces new frequency-weighted deformable mirror modes used as the control channels and new wavefront sensor modes for analyzing the performance of the control loops. The corrected laser beam also is imaged by a diagnostic target camera. The experimental results show reduced closed-loop wavefront errors and correspondingly sharper diagnostic target images produced by the adaptive control loop as compared with the classical AO loop.     

Improving the performance of a pyramid wavefront sensor with modal sensitivity compensation

We describe a solution to increase the performance of a pyramid wavefront sensor (P-WFS) under bad seeing conditions. We show that most of the issues involve a reduced sensitivity that depends on the magnitude of the high frequency atmospheric distortions. We demonstrate in end-to-end closed loop adaptive optics simulations that with a modal sensitivity compensation method a high-order system with a nonmodulated P-WFS is robust in conditions with the Fried parameter r 0 at 0.5 microm in the range of 0.05-0.10 m. We also show that the method makes it possible to use a modal predictive control system to reach a total performance improvement of 0.06-0.45 in Strehl ratio at 1.6 microm. Especially at r 0=0.05 m the gain is dramatic.     

Testing of Lagrange multiplier damped least-squares control algorithm for woofer-tweeter adaptive optics

A Lagrange multiplier-based damped least-squares control algorithm for woofer-tweeter (W-T) dual deformable-mirror (DM) adaptive optics (AO) is tested with a breadboard system. We show that the algorithm can complementarily command the two DMs to correct wavefront aberrations within a single optimization process: the woofer DM correcting the high-stroke, low-order aberrations, and the tweeter DM correcting the low-stroke, high-order aberrations. The optimal damping factor for a DM is found to be the median of the eigenvalue spectrum of the influence matrix of that DM. Wavefront control accuracy is maximized with the optimized control parameters. For the breadboard system, the residual wavefront error can be controlled to the precision of 0.03 μm in root mean square. The W-T dual-DM AO has applications in both ophthalmology and astronomy.     

High-resolution retinal imaging with micro adaptive optics system

Based on the dynamic characteristics of human eye aberration, a microadaptive optics retina imaging system set is established for real-time wavefront measurement and correction. This paper analyzes the working principles of a 127-unit Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor and a 37-channel micromachine membrane deformable mirror adopted in the system. The proposed system achieves wavefront reconstruction through the adaptive centroid detection method and the mode reconstruction algorithm of Zernike polynomials, so that human eye aberration can be measured accurately. Meanwhile, according to the adaptive optics aberration correction control model, a closed-loop iterative aberration correction algorithm based on Smith control is presented to realize efficient and real-time correction of human eye aberration with different characteristics, and characteristics of the time domain of the system are also optimized. According to the experiment results tested on a USAF 1951 standard resolution target and a living human retina (subject ZHY), the resolution of the system can reach 3.6?LP/mm, and the human eye wavefront aberration of 0.728λ (λ=785?nm) can be corrected to 0.081λ in root mean square (RMS) so as to achieve the diffraction limit (Strehl ratio is 0.866), then high-resolution retina images are obtained.     

弱光61单元自适应光学系统的控制优化

在自适应光学系统中,波前校正残误差主要由未完全补偿湍流所引起的误差和系统闭环噪声组成。基于一阶比例－积分控制器分析了弱光６１单元适应光学系统的控制特性。在此基础上风云地非Ｋｏｌｍｏｇｏｒｏｖ湍流情况,提出一种根据实际测量的大气湍流波前扰动功率谱来确定系统,针对非Ｋｏｌｍｏｇｏｒｏｖ湍流情况,提出一根据实际测量的大气湍流波前扰动功率谱来确定系统最优控制带宽的新方法。应用这种方法对弱光６１单元自适应光     

Performance analysis of multiplexed phase computer-generated hologram for modal wavefront sensing

We investigate the performance and capability of a holographic modal wavefront sensor (HMWS) that is based on a multiplexed phase computer-generated hologram (MPCGH). The theoretical treatments of the HMWS are presented with scalar diffraction approximations and Fourier analysis. Several MPCGHs have been designed with different linear carrier frequencies, by using of the multiplexed coding scheme we have proposed, and by coding some common Zernike modes. The numerical simulation is carried out to investigate the performance of the HMWS to detect particular aberration mode(s), by considering the effect of different carrier frequency selections and the capability of coding a large number of modes. The results exhibit the expected characteristics of a corresponding symmetric spot pair, and indicate that the wavefront distorted by a particular Zernike mode(s) can be retrieved immediately through solving the amplitude of each mode coded in MPCGHs through the response curves of the HMWS.