PHASOR AVERAGING FOR WAVE-FRONT CORRECTION WITH LIQUID-CRYSTAL SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATORS

We describe strategies for zonal wavefront correction and generation u sing liquid crystal spatial light modulators (LC-SLM) with 2 pi radian s phase dynamic range and limited spatial resolution. Computer simulat ions using realistic wavefront aberrations and the specification of a commercially available LC-SLM device are shown. In spite of the genera l modest improvement in the correction of large aberrations, the best performance after compensation is attained with a phasor averaging str ategy for driving the LC-SLM. Experimental results for wavefront gener ation are shown as well. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res erved.