CompMath Seminar - Liam Herrick, University of Groningen

Title: Numerical Error Determination for Collimator Calibration for the Plato Space Telescope

Abstract:

This project presents a numerical approach for determining the error values in a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, crucial for accurate testing and calibration of optical systems like the Plato Space Telescope's cameras. The method involves decomposing the total measurements of collimator light and sensor error into Zernike Polynomials, known for their numerical representation of wavefronts within a circle. The process involves splitting measurement matrices, and using overlapping halves to establish relationships between measurements. The difference of the overlapping halves allows for the extraction of error values, which can be found by utilizing Singular Value Decomposition, an accurate but expensive method. This allows for scientists and engineers at SRON to determine the collimator wavefront and account for it when testing and calibrating the PLATO cameras.