Arbitrary wavefront uncertainty evaluation for the Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor using physical optics propagation

The Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWS) is a common option to characterize optical fields, due to its noninterference, high accuracy, and high-speed advantages. However, the current methods for evaluating measurement accuracy can only work for predefined standard wavefronts and cannot provide the error estimate for an arbitrary wavefront. Here, we propose an SHWS uncertainty evaluation approach for specific wavefronts based on the physical optics propagation. Our approach constructs a comprehensive SHWS model that incorporates twelve error sources. We analyzed the influence of different error sources on the measurement accuracy under the diffraction effect and reported that our model could achieve an accuracy of λ/559 under the ideal condition. In the experiment, we measured three different wavefronts and confined their uncertainty down to λ/65, λ/260, and λ/40, respectively. Our work may offer an effective solution for evaluating measurement errors in the high-accuracy wavefront measurement and provide a reliable, unbiased evaluation criterion.