Focal Plane Wavefront Sensing on SUBARU/SCExAO

Abstract

Focal plane wavefront sensing is an elegant solution for wavefront sensing since near-focal images of any source taken by a detector show distortions in the presence of aberrations. Non-Common Path Aberrations and the Low Wind Effect both have the ability to limit the achievable contrast of the finest coronagraphs coupled with the best extreme adaptive optics systems. To correct for these aberrations, the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics instrument hosts many focal plane wavefront sensors using detectors as close to the science detector as possible. We present seven of them and compare their implementation and efficiency on SCExAO. This work will be critical for wavefront sensing on next generation of extremely large telescopes that might present similar limitations.