Methods and apparatus for measurement and correction of optical aberration

A method for determining a characteristic of an optical element, said method comprising,

• passing at least one beam of light originating from a predetermined spatial position through a lenslet in an array of lenslets to said optical element,
• subsequent to said at least one beam of light encountering said optical element, detecting said at least one beam of light at a received spatial position, and
• comparing said predetermined spatial position with said received spatial position to determine said characteristic of said optical element.

An apparatus for generating a diffraction limited image, said apparatus comprising,

• a spatial light pattern generator adapted to generate a plurality of beams of light at selected spatial positions to compensate for a characteristic of an optical element,
• an array of lenslets adapted to receive said plurality of beams of light from said spatial light pattern generator and to direct said plurality of beams of light to said optical element, and
• an image plane positioned to receive said plurality of beams of light subsequent to said plurality of beams of light encountering said optical element and adapted to form said diffraction limited image.

A method for generating a diffraction limited image, said method comprising,

• passing a plurality of beams of light through a lenslet array to an optical element, said plurality of beams of light originating from selected spatial positions to compensate for a characteristic of said optical element, and
• subsequent to said plurality of beams of light encountering said optical element, imaging said plurality of beams of light to form a diffraction limited image.