Wave-front sensing by use of a Green's function solution to the intensity transport equation.

A method for reconstructing an unknown wave front from measurements of its intensity distribution on two planes along the direction of propagation is described. The method solves the intensity transport equation by use of Neumann boundary conditions, leading to a solution that requires only matrix multiplication. The method provides real-time wave-front reconstruction with high accuracy and is easily reposed to permit reconstruction of the wave front in any orthonormal basis set.