Forward and inverse problems for symmetric starbursts
Abstract
Visual starbursts are images perceived by people watching a bright light source with a dilated pupil. They are generated by the optical aberrations of a person’s eye. The problem of starbursts is considered for two families of symmetric aberration functions. The first is homogeneous polynomials, and the second is aberration functions that are invariants under rotation by 2 π / q for any integer q . A complete geometrical characterization of the starbursts is given in both cases. The theory is used to solve the inverse problem of estimating the high-order aberrations from the observed starbursts.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing
Advanced optical system design
Visual perception and processing mechanisms
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Journal of the Optical Society of America A
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 430–430
- Publication date
- 13 January 2026
- Language
- EN