Microlens arrays for Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors

Microlens arrays are a component of atmospheric wavefront sensors used recently with success by ground-based astronomers to obtain diffraction-limited images of stars in spite of wavefront disturbances introduced by the earth's atmosphere. Typical requirements for individual lenses are a size measured in tenths of millimeters, a sag measured in micrometers, and no room left between lenses, i.e., square or hexagonal lenses rather than circular lenses. Actual monolithic square microlens arrays up to 20 x 20 mm in size for 0.18- to 1.5-mm individual contiguous lenses of 0.0035-mm maximum sag are engraved in photoresist coatings by a two-axes rastering process. These arrays have been used for diurnal and nocturnal atmospheric wavefront measurements.