A Phase-Shifting Zernike Wavefront Sensor for the Palomar P3K Adaptive Optics System

A phase-shifting Zernike wavefront sensor has distinct advantages over other types of wavefront sensors. Chief among them are: 1) improved sensitivity to low-order aberrations and 2) efficient use of photons ( hence reduced sensitivity to photon noise). We are in the process of deploying a phase-shifting Zernike wavefront sensor to be used with the real-time adaptive optics system for Palomar. Here we present the current state of the Zernike wavefront sensor to be integrated into the high-order adaptive optics system at Mount Palomar's Hale Telescope.