Improvement of correlation-based centroiding methods for point source Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor

Abstract This paper proposes an efficient approach to decrease the computational costs of correlation-based centroiding methods used for point source Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensors. Four typical similarity functions have been compared, i.e. the absolute difference function (ADF), ADF square (ADF 2 ), square difference function (SDF), and cross-correlation function (CCF) using the Gaussian spot model. By combining them with fast search algorithms, such as three-step search (TSS), two-dimensional logarithmic search (TDL), cross search (CS), and orthogonal search (OS), computational costs can be reduced drastically without affecting the accuracy of centroid detection. Specifically, OS reduces calculation consumption by 90%. A comprehensive simulation indicates that CCF exhibits a better performance than other functions under various light-level conditions. Besides, the effectiveness of fast search algorithms has been verified.