aobasis

Modal basis sets for adaptive-optics deformable mirrors: KL, Zernike, Fourier, Hadamard, zonal and zonal-fast modes, for any actuator geometry.

Every generator takes your actuator positions and returns a modal-to-command matrix (M2C), an (n_actuators, n_modes) NumPy array whose column k is the DM command for mode k. It's ready for a reconstructor, a calibration sequence or a real-time controller such as pyRTC.

Installation

pip install aobasis                 # numpy + scipy only
pip install "aobasis[plot]"         # + matplotlib, for .plot()
pip install "aobasis[fits]"         # + astropy, for save_fits / load_fits
pip install "aobasis[tutorials]"    # + matplotlib, astropy and Jupyter, for the tutorials

aobasis is pure Python (3.8–3.14) and is tested on Linux, x86-64 and aarch64.

GPU (optional). KLBasisGenerator(..., use_gpu=True) builds and diagonalizes the covariance with CuPy. Install the CuPy wheel for your CUDA version, e.g. pip install cupy-cuda12x, or conda install -c conda-forge cupy. Without CuPy it falls back to the CPU with a warning, and the modes are the same either way.

Quick start

import numpy as np
import aobasis

# 1. Actuator positions: (N, 2) in metres, centred, in your DM's actuator order
positions = aobasis.make_circular_actuator_grid(telescope_diameter=10.0, grid_size=20)

# 2. A generator and its physical parameters
kl = aobasis.KLBasisGenerator(positions, fried_parameter=0.16, outer_scale=30.0)

# 3. The M2C: (276, 50), piston-free
m2c = kl.generate(n_modes=50, ignore_piston=True)

# 4. Use, inspect, keep
coefficients = np.zeros(50); coefficients[3] = 1.0  # some of mode 3
commands = m2c @ coefficients                       # put modal coefficients on the DM
c2m = aobasis.command_to_mode_matrix(m2c)           # and back
kl.plot(count=6)                                    # needs aobasis[plot]
kl.save("kl_m2c.npz")                               # modes + parameters + options + eigenvalues

What's in it

Bases

Shaping a basis. These options are the same on every generator:

• ignore_piston=True makes every mode exactly zero-mean;
• remove="tiptilt" (or any (n_actuators, k) array, e.g. waffle) keeps other modes out;
• orthonormalize=True Gram-Schmidts the modes in order;
• normalize="rms" | "l2" | "peak" | "pv" sets the scale.

Unknown options raise TypeError. Zernike, Fourier and Hadamard warn when the modes are linearly dependent; check_rank=False skips that check, which is most of the cost of a large Zernike basis.

Zernike helpers.

• noll_to_nm(j) and nm_to_noll(n, m) convert between Noll indices and (n, m), with ansi_to_nm/nm_to_ansi and fringe_to_nm/nm_to_fringe for the other orderings. m > 0 is the cosine term, so Noll 2 = (1, 1) is tip along +x and Noll 3 = (1, -1) tilt along +y. They take integers or integer arrays.
• zernike_modes_on_mask(mask, n_modes, pupil_radius=...) evaluates Zernikes on the pixels of a 2-D mask and returns (n_modes, ny, nx) images, zero outside the mask.

Geometry.

• make_circular_actuator_grid builds a square grid by grid_size or pitch, with actuators on the rim or in cell centres.
• make_hexagonal_actuator_grid and make_concentric_actuator_grid cover other layouts.
• All three take a central obstruction and spider arms.
• positions_from_mask reads a boolean DM map, and any (N, 2) array works too.

Influence functions. fit_to_influence_functions gives least-squares commands whose DM surface matches modes sampled on the pupil. gaussian_influence_functions and make_pupil_points build the inputs.

Using and keeping a basis.

• command_to_mode_matrix and fit_coefficients give modal coefficients.
• basis_report (or generator.report()) summarizes rank, conditioning, orthogonality and piston content.
• save/load (.npz) and save_fits/load_fits store the modes together with the generator's parameters, the generate() options, KL eigenvalues and the aobasis version.

Reproducible. KL modes follow a fixed sign and degenerate-rotation convention: tip along +x, tilt along +y. The same geometry gives the same modes on every machine, CPU or GPU.

Tutorials and examples

tutorials/ holds eight Jupyter walkthroughs; see tutorials/README.md for a guide.

examples/ holds ready-to-run scripts (each has --help):

python examples/make_m2c.py kl --grid-size 20 --n-modes 100 --remove tiptilt -o kl.fits --plot kl.png
python examples/dm_kl.py --n-modes 80 -o dmkl.fits
python examples/calibration.py

Performance

python examples/benchmark.py --grid-sizes 16 32 64 --n-modes 100 --gpu --markdown. Each entry is the best of 3 runs of generate(100) (zonal fast: its full pattern set) on a square grid clipped by a 10 m pupil.

Host: an 80-core Arm Neoverse-N1 server, using 4 cores (OPENBLAS_NUM_THREADS=4), with an NVIDIA RTX 4060 and an RTX A400 (select one with CUDA_DEVICE_ORDER=PCI_BUS_ID CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=...).

Full bases (--n-modes all) on 3096 actuators take 5.0 s for KL on the CPU (1.6 s on the RTX 4060), 3.3 s for Zernike, 6.9 s for Fourier and 2.9 s for Hadamard. That includes the rank check, which check_rank=False skips (a full Zernike basis then takes 0.5 s).

Some notes on these numbers:

• KL costs O(N³). For a few modes the CPU uses a partial eigensolver, which is why 100 modes are faster than the full basis.
• The covariance is evaluated once per distinct actuator separation.
• KL works in float64, so GPU speed follows the card's float64 throughput. The RTX 4060 is about 2× faster than 4 CPU cores at 3096 actuators. The RTX A400, with far less float64 throughput, is slower than the CPU.
• The GPU path always computes every eigenpair (CuPy has no partial eigensolver), so its advantage is largest for full bases.

Development and testing

git clone https://github.com/jacotay7/aobasis.git
cd aobasis
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest

CI runs the test suite on Python 3.8–3.14, on aarch64 and without matplotlib, runs every example script, and executes every tutorial notebook.

CI cannot run the GPU tests: they need CuPy and a CUDA device, and skip without them. Run them locally before changing GPU code:

pip install cupy-cuda12x
pytest -k gpu -rs   # -rs shows a skip reason if no device is found

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Open an issue to report a bug or propose a feature, or send a pull request with a test for the change and an entry in CHANGELOG.md.

Contact

Jacob Taylor, jacobataylor7@gmail.com

License

MIT; see LICENSE.