US 9,544,052 B2Granted

Simple low cost tip-tilt wavefront sensor having extended dynamic range

AssigneeAOptix Technologies, Inc.

InventorsMalcolm J. Northcott, J. Elon Graves, Siegfried Fleischer, Paolo Zambon, Jeffrey Tuttle, Yu Chun Chang

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Abstract

A low cost, high reliability system for correcting aberrations in optical signals is disclosed. A foreoptic assembly, such as a telescope, receives an incoming optical signal and directs it to an active optical element, such as a fast steering mirror. The incoming optical signal is diffracted by a diffractive optical element to shape the image that is formed at a wavefront sensor, such as a quad-cell. The wavefront sensor measures a tip-tilt aberration of the incoming optical signal and the active optical element is adjusted to correct the measured aberration. An outgoing optical signal can be transmitted along substantially the same optical path as the incoming optical signal, but in the opposite direction. Thus, the aberration measured from the incoming optical signal can be automatically accounted for in the outgoing optical signal.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A system to compensate for aberrations in an incoming optical signal, comprising:

a foreoptic assembly configured to receive the incoming optical signal;
a diffractive optical element, optically coupled to the foreoptic assembly, configured to diffract the incoming optical signal into a patterned optical signal;
a single quad-cell positioned such that the patterned optical signal is at least partially incident on the quad-cell illuminating an illuminated area of the quad-cell, the quad-cell configured to measure a tip-tilt aberration of the incoming optical signal based on a position of the illuminated area on the quad-cell, a size of the illuminated area on the quad-cell being larger than would be created by the incoming optical signal absent the diffractive optical element;
and
an active optical element, optically coupled to the foreoptic assembly, configured to adjust the incoming optical signal based on the aberration measured at the quad-cell.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.