Zernike polynomials as a basis for modal fitting in lateral shearing interferometry: a discrete domain matrix transformation method.

A Zernike-polynomials-based wavefront reconstruction method for lateral shearing interferometry is proposed. Shear matrices are calculated using matrix transformation instead of mathematical derivation. Simulation results show that the shear matrices calculated using the proposed method are the same as those obtained from mathematical derivation. The advantage of the proposed method is that high order shear matrices can be obtained easily; thus, wavefront reconstruction can be extended to higher order Zernike terms, and reconstruction accuracy can be improved.