Wavefront Sensor

Shack-Hartmann Wavefront Sensor

This Thorlabs wavefront sensor can be controlled via USB communication.

Prerequisite

Please download and install the Thorlabs WFS Software, which installs .dll files necessary to communicate with the wavefront sensor. This means you'll also need a computer running on Windows OS.

Example

Below, we provide an example showing you how to communicate with your wavefront sensor using a high-level API in python. The API is implemented as a wrapper on top of Thorlabs .dll.

import time
from tlwfs import TLWFS

def main():
    dll_path = "path/to/your/dll/file.dll"  # Replace with the path to your DLL file. TLWFS_64.dll for 64-bit system and TLWFS_32.dll for 32-bit system.
    resource_name = "ASRL1::INSTR"  # Replace with your wavefront sensor's resource name
    tlwfs = TLWFS(dll_path)

    # Initialize the wavefront sensor
    instrument_handle = tlwfs.init(resource_name, id_query=True, reset_device=True)
    print(f"Initialized wavefront sensor with handle: {instrument_handle}")

    # Identification query
    manufacturer, device, serial, firmware = tlwfs.identification_query(instrument_handle)
    print(f"Manufacturer: {manufacturer}\nDevice: {device}\nSerial: {serial}\nFirmware: {firmware}")

    # Take a spotfield image
    tlwfs.take_spotfield_image(instrument_handle)
    print("Took a spotfield image")

    # Get the spotfield image
    image_data, rows, columns = tlwfs.get_spotfield_image(instrument_handle)
    print(f"Retrieved spotfield image with dimensions: {rows}x{columns}")

    # Process the image data as needed...

    # Close the wavefront sensor
    tlwfs.close(instrument_handle)
    print(f"Closed wavefront sensor with handle: {instrument_handle}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

This example code does the following:

1. Imports the necessary modules and the TLWFS class from the tlwfs.py file provided.

2. Defines a main function that:

   • Initializes the wavefront sensor with the given resource name.
   • Performs an identification query to get the wavefront sensor's details.
   • Takes a spotfield image using the sensor.
   • Retrieves the spotfield image and its dimensions.
   • Processes the image data as needed (not shown).
   • Closes the wavefront sensor.

Make sure to replace the dll_path variable with the correct path to your DLL file. Typically, WFS_64.dll can be found inside C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\VISA\Win64\Bin\WFS_64.dll in 64-bit windows system and C:\Program Files (x86)\IVI Foundation\VISA\WinNT\Bin\WFS_32.dll for 32-bit system. Replace resource_name with your wavefront sensor's resource name.