Photonic lantern tip/tilt detector for adaptive optics systems

In this work, we demonstrate a four-core multicore fiber photonic lantern tip/tilt wavefront sensor. To diagnose the low-order Zernike aberrations, we exploit the ability of the photonic lantern to encode the characteristics of a complex incoming beam at the multimode facet of the sensor to intensity distributions at the multicore fiber output. Here, we provide a comprehensive numerical analysis capable of predicting the performance of fabricated devices and experimentally demonstrate the concept. Two receiver architectures are implemented to discern tip/tilt information by (i) imaging the four-core fiber facet on a 2D detector and (ii) direct power measurement of the single mode outputs using a multicore fiber multiplexer and photodetectors. For both receiver schemes, an angular detection window of ?0.4? at 1064 nm can be achieved. Our results are expected to further facilitate the development of intensity-based fiber wavefront sensors for adaptive optics systems.