Eleven chapters provide guidance for the development and implementation of adaptive optics systems to enhance their ability to adjust for atmospheric turbulence, optical fabrication errors, thermally induced distortions, and laser device aberrations. After a introductory history of adaptive optics, the handbook describes system considerations for modeling, analyzing, and designing a conventional adaptive optics system with laser guide stars. Three chapters then review the major subsystems and components of a system: the wavefront sensor, the deformable mirror, and the control system wavefront estimators. The next three chapters describe state-of-the- art technology in high-speed wavefront correction devices. The volume closes with an overview of current research in medical imaging using adaptive optics, and innovative techniques for wavefront compensation that overcome field-of-view limits