Sub-aperture piston phase diversity for segmented and multi-aperture systems

Phase diversity is a method of image-based wavefront sensing that simultaneously estimates the unknown phase aberrations of an imaging system along with an image of the object. To perform this estimation a series of images differing by a known aberration, typically defocus, are used. In this paper we present a new method of introducing the diversity unique to segmented and multi-aperture systems in which individual segments or sub-apertures are pistoned with respect to one another. We compare this new diversity with the conventional focus diversity.