Potential application of antenna-pair coupled micro-bolometers in whole complex field sensing

This presentation explores potential application of antenna-pair coupled micro-bolometers in IR beam wavefront metrology. It describes an array configuration of such bolometers and a method for extracting a 1-D whole complex field information from its response. In addition, it discusses the requirements on the antenna-pair spacing and the spacing between the pair elements of the array configuration for extracting the complex field information. A numerical simulation based on the transmission line theory shows the effectiveness of such an array in recording the complex field spatial information of incident radiation; especially, it shows that the wavefront phase information can be extracted without the knowledge of the single antenna pattern. The discussions here should also be valid for antenna-pair coupled bolometers working at longer wavelengths.     

Aberration-correction results from a segmented microelectromechanical deformable mirror and a refractive lenslet array

Quadratic aberration is successfully corrected with a segmented microelectromechanical deformable mirror in conjunction with a refractive lenslet array. Use of the lenslet array greatly improves the effective fill factor of the correcting element. Experimental results show correction approaching the diffraction limit for an extreme spherical aberration.     

Micro-electro-mechanical deformable mirrors for aberration control in optical systems

Controlling optical aberrations is one of the enduring problems in optics. Recent advances in adaptive optics for astronomical applications have shown the promise of adaptive optics technology for controlling aberrations. Micro-electro-mechanical deformable mirrors (MEM-DMs) offer an alternative to conventional adaptive optics which, due to the inexpensive nature of MEM-DM technology, will enable a wide range of commercial and scientific applications for optical wave front control. In this paper we describe MEM-DMs, present results of modelling the performance of an MEM-DM for optical aberration control, and present results of experiments to verify that MEM-DMs can control optical aberrations.     

Diagnosing unknown aberrations in an adaptive optics system by use of phase diversity

We outline a novel method for estimating a fixed aberration that is in the image path but not in the wave-front-sensor (WFS) path of an adaptive optics (AO) imaging system. We accomplish this through a nontraditional application of the Gonsalves [Proc. SPIE 207, 32 (1997)] least-squares phase-diversity technique, using an ensemble of images and WFS data. The diversity phases required for this technique are provided by the temporal differences in WFS residual phase measurements for different members of the ensemble. We demonstrate the technique by using actual observations from an operational AO system exhibiting such an aberration. An estimate of this aberration was obtained by the proposed algorithm that agrees reasonably well with the observed point-spread function.     

Measurement of the Mutual Coherence Function of an Incoherent Infrared Field with a Gold Nano-wire Dipole Antenna Array

The first direct measurement of the mutual coherence function of a spatially incoherent infrared beam was performed at 10.6 μm using a pair of infrared dipole nano-wire antennas that were connected to a common bolometer in the center of the pair by short lengths of coplanar strip transmission line. A spatially incoherent source was constructed by dithering a BaF2 diffuser near the focus of a CO2 laser beam. The distance from the diffuser to the nano-wire antenna pair was held constant while the distance from the focus of the laser beam to the diffuser was varied to control the effective diameter of the source. The measured bolometer signal was proportional to the magnitude of the mutual coherence function at the plane of the antennas. The experimental results were found to match the predicted performance closely. If this technology can be extended to large arrays, a form of synthetic aperture optical imaging based on the Van Cittert-Zernike theorem is possible, similar to that performed at microwave frequencies now by astronomers. This has the potential to greatly increase the angular resolution attainable with optical instruments.