Many adaptive optics systems rely on a wavefront sensor (WFS) to sense the aberrations in an incoming wavefront. The required corrections are determined and applied by the wavefront corrector - often a deformable mirror (DM). We wish to develop a wavefront sensor-less correcting system, as derived from the original adaptive optics system of Muller and Buffington. In this experiment we apply commands to a corrective element with adjustable segments in an attempt to maximise a metric which correlates to image quality. We employ search algorithms to find the optimal combination of actuator voltages on a DM to maximise a certain sharpness metric. The "sharpness" is based on intensity measurements taken with a CCD camera. It has shown that sharpness maximisation, using the Simplex algorithm, can minimise the aberrations and restore the Airy rings of an imaged point source. The results are repeatable and so-called "blind" correction of the aberrations is achieved. This paper demonstrates that the technique can be applied to extended objects which have been aberated using a Hamamatsu SLM to induce aberrations. The correction achieved using various search algorithms are evaluated and presented.
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