SBIR-STTR Award

Nutronics, Inc. and Montana State University propose to develop and evaluate computational methods for a Volume Digital Holographic Wavefront Sensor (VDHWFS).VDHWFS based imaging offers the potential to provide the equivalent of wide field of view adaptive optics (AO) compensated imaging, but without the added complexity of AO components and hardware.Recent result for coherent imaging developed by Pelllizari, et.al. are highly promising and suggest new key insights into the algorithmic methods have been achieved.The next step in development is to evaluate noise gain and radiometric requirements and assess options and methods for real time or at least video rate implementation of the computational methods developed by Pellizari, et. al. and/or investigation of alternate computational methods.Our Phase 1 effort will leverage our expertise in algorithm development and requirements for real time imaging and beam projection systems to identify the optimal real time implementation solution for potential follow-on implementation in a future Phase 2 effort.

Through the execution of our Phase 1 effort, Nutronics, Inc. and Montana State University developed an improved means to optimize the Pellizzarri cost functional for coherent imaging using digital holography. Our algorithm developed during the Phase 1 effort accelerates convergence times by a factor of 20-40 for the majority of scenarios evaluated. Our proposed Phase 2 effort has a two-fold focus: (1) video rate (objective of kHz rate) implementation of our algorithm using a single-layer phase solution; and (2) continuing algorithm development for a multi-layer Volume Digital Holographic Wavefront Sensor (VDHWFS). VDHWFS based imaging offers the potential to provide the equivalent of wide field of view adaptive optics (AO) compensated imaging, but without the added complexity of AO components and hardware.