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US 6,587,215 B2Granted
Low signal-to-noise ratio branch-point-capable adaptive optics sensor
AssigneeNorthrop Grumman Corporation
InventorDonald W. Davies
Life of this patent
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AssigneeNorthrop Grumman Corporation
InventorDonald W. Davies
Estimating the term…
A lateral shearing interferometer wavefront sensor system (10) that employs a double-shear/full aperture approach to correct for branch points in the wavefront of an optical beam (24) that has been aberated. The wavefront sensor system (10) includes a lateral shearing interferometer (12) having a beam splitter (14) that splits the beam (24) into a first split beam (28) and a second split beam (26), a beam shifter (22) that shifts the first split beam (28) relative to the second split beam (26), and a beam combiner (16) that combines first shifted split beam (28) and the second split beam (26) into a combined beam (30). The combined beam (30) provides an interference pattern that includes a plurality of interfered beam portions (76, 78, 82, 84). A deformable mirror (72) includes a plurality of actuators (74) which deform the mirror (72) to correct the beam wavefront. The interfered portions (76, 78, 82, 84) are twice the distance apart between actuators (74),or a double shear such that interfering portions (76, 78, 82, 84) do not align with branch cuts between the actuators (74).
A lateral shearing interferometer wavefront sensor system for correcting phase discrepancies in an optical beam wavefront, said system comprising:
A lateral shearing interferometer wavefront sensor system for correcting phase differences in an optical beam wavefront, said system comprising a lateral shearing interferometer responsive to an input optical beam to be corrected, said interferometer including a beam splitter, a beam shifter and a beam combiner, said beam splitter splitting the input optical beam into a first split beam and a second split beam, said beam shifter being responsive to the first split beam and shifting the first split beam a predetermined shear distance in a shear direction relative to the second split beam, said beam combiner combining the first shifted split beam and the second split beam into a combined beam, wherein the first and second split beams include a plurality of beam portions where each beam portion of the first shifted split beam is interfered with a corresponding beam portion of the second split beam, wherein the interfering beam portions of the first shifted split beam and the second split beam are more than a unit-shear in distance apart.
A method of correcting phase differences in a wavefront of an optical beam, said method comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.