Configurable adaptive optics for the correction of space-based optical systems.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Space-based, high resolution, Earth remote sensing systems, that employ large, flexible, lightweight primary mirrors, will require active wavefront correction, in the form of active and adaptive optics, to correct for thermally and vibrationally induced deformations in the optics. These remote sensing systems typically have a large field-of-view. Unlike the adaptive optics on ground-based astronomical telescopes, which have a negligible field-of-view, the adaptive optics on these space-based remote sensing systems will be required to correct the wavefront over the entire field-of-view, which can be several degrees. The error functions for astronomical adaptive optics have been developed for the narrow field-of-view correction of atmospheric turbulence and do not address the needs of wide field space-based systems. To address these needs, a new wide field adaptive optics theory and a new error function are developed.
This new error function, which is a new extension of conventional adaptive optics, leads to the development of three new types of imaging systems: wide field-of-view, selectable field-of-view, and steerable field-of-view. These new systems can have nearly diffraction-limited performance across the entire field-of-view or a narrow movable region of high-resolution imaging. The factors limiting system performance are determined and analyzed. The range of applicability of the wide field adaptive optics theory is shown. The range of applicability is used to avoid limitations in system performance and to estimate the optical systems parameters, which will meet the system's performance requirements. Experimental results demonstrate the wide field adaptive optics theory.
Finally, it will be shown that a synthetic guide star stimulated from above the atmosphere can be used as a beacon for the wavefront sensors of space-based systems. These wavefront sensors must be optimized such that error in the reconstructed wavefront is minimized. The key equations that govern the optimization of a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor exploiting a synthetic guide are developed. The optimization process also is presented. Using modal reconstruction, the first step in this process is the optimization of the retrieved basis function modes. The second step involves optimizing the number of measurement points (or subapertures) in the pupil. Design examples are presented to demonstrate this process.