LAUSR

Abstract. High-resolution imaging with large ground-based telescopes is limited by atmospheric turbulence. The observed images are usually blurred with unknown point spread functions (PSFs) defined in terms of the wavefront distortions of light. To effectively remove the blur, numerical postprocessing with a good approximation of the wavefront is required. The gradient measurements of the wavefront recorded by Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor (WFS) can be used to estimate the wavefront. A gradients measurement model for Shack–Hartmann WFS is built. This model is based on the frozen flow hypothesis and uses a least-squares-fit of tip and tilt across the subaperture in the WFS to genarate the averaged gradient measurements. Then a high-resolution wavefront reconstruction method using multiframe Shack–Hartmann WFS measurements is presented. The method uses high cadence WFS data in a Bayesian framework and takes into account the available a priori information of the wavefront phase. Numerical results show that the method can effectively improve the spatial resolution and accuracy of the reconstructed wavefront in different seeing conditions.