On-sky demonstration of a vector Zernike wavefront sensor in a cascaded adaptive optics system
Abstract
To directly image and characterise Earth-like exoplanets, future high-contrast instruments will require adaptive-optics systems operating at increasingly high loop frequencies to reduce temporal errors. Increasing the loop frequency reduces the signal-to-noise ratio per wavefront-sensor frame, making highly sensitive wavefront sensors, such as the Zernike wavefront sensor (ZWFS), attractive candidates. However, the limited dynamic range of the classical ZWFS makes on-sky operation challenging. We therefore investigate whether a ZWFS can be used as a second-stage sensor in an on-sky cascaded adaptive-optics system. To this end, we added a second AO stage, called OZIRIIS, to the PAPYRUS platform at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence. OZIRIIS combines a vector Zernike wavefront sensor (v-ZWFS) with a 97-actuator deformable mirror operating at 400 Hz downstream of the pyramid-based first AO stage. Real-time control relied on a single ZWFS signal, while the full v-ZWFS was used a posteriori for non-linear reconstruction and telemetry analysis. The second-stage correction increased the measured Strehl ratio by up to 16 percentage points. Analysis of the telemetry using the full v-ZWFS to reconstruct residuals revealed optical-gain effects affecting the ZWFS at low Strehl ratio. The good agreement between on-sky measurements and numerical simulations further supports the calibration strategy based on synthetic reference signals and interaction matrices. These results demonstrate that Zernike wavefront sensing can be operated in closed loop on sky and support its use in future cascaded extreme adaptive-optics systems.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{motte2026onsky,
title = {{On-sky demonstration of a vector Zernike wavefront sensor in a cascaded adaptive optics system}},
author = {M. Motte and V. Chambouleyron and R. Fétick and F. Oyarzun and M. A. Alagao and A. Striffling and E. Vinerskas and J. -F. Sauvage and C. T. Héritier and E. Muslimov and M. Cissé and A. Rahim and J. Kent Wallace and T. Wenger and B. Neichel and T. Fusco},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.30666},
eprint = {2608.30666},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.30666},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - On-sky demonstration of a vector Zernike wavefront sensor in a cascaded adaptive optics system
AU - M. Motte
AU - V. Chambouleyron
AU - R. Fétick
AU - F. Oyarzun
AU - M. A. Alagao
AU - A. Striffling
AU - E. Vinerskas
AU - J. -F. Sauvage
AU - C. T. Héritier
AU - E. Muslimov
AU - M. Cissé
AU - A. Rahim
AU - J. Kent Wallace
AU - T. Wenger
AU - B. Neichel
AU - T. Fusco
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/31
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.30666
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.30666
AB - To directly image and characterise Earth-like exoplanets, future high-contrast instruments will require adaptive-optics systems operating at increasingly high loop frequencies to reduce temporal errors. Increasing the loop frequency reduces the signal-to-noise ratio per wavefront-sensor frame, making highly sensitive wavefront sensors, such as the Zernike wavefront sensor (ZWFS), attractive candidates. However, the limited dynamic range of the classical ZWFS makes on-sky operation challenging. We therefore investigate whether a ZWFS can be used as a second-stage sensor in an on-sky cascaded adaptive-optics system. To this end, we added a second AO stage, called OZIRIIS, to the PAPYRUS platform at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence. OZIRIIS combines a vector Zernike wavefront sensor (v-ZWFS) with a 97-actuator deformable mirror operating at 400 Hz downstream of the pyramid-based first AO stage. Real-time control relied on a single ZWFS signal, while the full v-ZWFS was used a posteriori for non-linear reconstruction and telemetry analysis. The second-stage correction increased the measured Strehl ratio by up to 16 percentage points. Analysis of the telemetry using the full v-ZWFS to reconstruct residuals revealed optical-gain effects affecting the ZWFS at low Strehl ratio. The good agreement between on-sky measurements and numerical simulations further supports the calibration strategy based on synthetic reference signals and interaction matrices. These results demonstrate that Zernike wavefront sensing can be operated in closed loop on sky and support its use in future cascaded extreme adaptive-optics systems.
ER -