Wavefront sensing with a brightest pixel selection algorithm

Astronomical adaptive optics systems with open-loop deformable mirror control have recently come online. In these systems, the deformable mirror surface is not included in the wavefront sensor paths, and so changes made to the deformable mirror are not fed back to the wavefront sensors. This gives rise to all sorts of linearity and control issues mainly centred on one question: has the mirror taken the shape requested? Non-linearities in wavefront measurement and in the deformable mirror shape can lead to significant deviations in the mirror shape from the requested shape. Here, wavefront sensor measurements made using a brightest pixel selection method are discussed along with the implications that this has on open-loop AO systems. Discussion includes elongated laser guide star spots and also computational efficiency.