A universal framework for microscope sensorless adaptive optics: Generalized aberration representations
Qi Hu, Jiu‐Yao Wang, Jacopo Antonello, Martin Hailstone, Matthew Wincott, Raphaël Turcotte, Dalia Gala, Martin J. Booth
Abstract
Adaptive optics (AO) methods are widely used in microscopes to improve image quality through correction of phase aberrations. A range of wavefront-sensorless AO schemes exist, such as modal, pupil segmentation zonal, and pixelated piston-based methods. Each of these has a different physical implementation that makes direct comparisons difficult. Here, we propose a framework that fits in all sensorless AO methods and facilitates systematic comparisons among them. We introduce a general model for the aberration representation that encompasses many existing methods. Through modeling and experimental verification in a two-photon microscope, we compared sensorless AO schemes with a range of aberration representations to correct both simulated and sample induced aberrations. The results show that different representations can provide a better basis for correction in different experimental scenarios, which can inform the choice of sensorless AO schemes for a particular application.