Abstract: In this Letter, we propose a new curvature wavefront sensor based on the principles of optical differentiation. The theoretically modeled setup consists of a diffractive optical mask placed at the intermediate plane of a classical twolens coherent optical processor. The resulting image is composed of a number of local derivatives of the entrance pupil function whose proper combination provides the wavefront curvature. In contrast to the common radial curvature sensors, this one is able to provide the x and y wavefront curvature maps simultaneously. The sensor offers other additional advantages like having high spatial resolution, adjustable dynamic range, and not being sensitive to misalignment.

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