Adaptive optics scanning system with two-zone phase filters

An adaptive confocal system employing pupil filters and two light sources has been designed, providing improved transverse resolution. Coherent transfer functions are studied to show the transfer capability at different frequencies and the limitations of the filters in obtaining clear improvements in the focal plane. Then, intensity point spread functions are analysed to reveal the dependence of the resolution on the size of the pinhole and the inner radius of the filter. An experiment has been carried out using a liquid crystal phase modulator and an artificial eye to validate the simulation results. It proves that the system with two light sources can correct the aberrations, with the basic effect of the phase modulation being to decrease the low spatial frequencies and increase the high spatial frequencies. Improvement of the transverse resolution can be achieved by sacrificing light intensity and contrast.