Adaptive Optics for Biological Imaging using Direct Wavefront Sensing

This presentation will be on the use of adaptive optics (AO) with direct wavefront sensing for biological imaging. Adaptive optics have been used in ground based astronomy to correct image aberrations caused by refraction as light passes through Earth’s turbulent atmosphere. As shown on the left in Figure One, light from the telescope has a distorted wavefront, as indicated by the wavy lines. A wavefront sensor measures these distortions and applies the opposite shape on an adaptive mirror using a feedback control system. After reflection from the adaptive mirror a corrected wavefront is generated and is recorded by a high-resolution camera. An image of the planet Neptune before and after AO correction is shown on the right in Figures 1(a) and 1(b). After correction the cloud structure on Neptune can be resolved in 1(b)