Integration of a photodiode array and centroid processing on a single CMOS chip for a real-time shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor

A real-time VLSI optical centroid processor has been developed as part of a larger Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor system for applications in adaptive optics. The implementation of the optical centroid detection system was demonstrated successfully using a hardware emulation system. Subsequently, the design has been implemented as a CMOS single-chip solution. This has advantages in terms of speed, power consumption, system size, and cost. The design of the different components of the system will be discussed along with test results of the fabricated device.