Required Number of Degrees-of-Freedom for an Adaptive Optics System
Abstract
The ability of an adaptive optics system to compensate for turbulence induced random wavefront distortion is studied in terms of the ensemble-average, aperture-average squared residual wavefront error. It is shown that if the adaptive optics are controlled in terms of the appropriate set of Karhunen-Loeve functions, the minimum possible number of degrees of freedom will be required for a given performance. Results are presented for the required number of degrees of freedom for any level of performance if the adaptive optics control utilizes the Karhunen-Loeve functions, the Zernike function, a set of local piston/tilt-only functions, or a set of local piston-only functions. With the exception of the last of these, which requires almost seven times the optimum number of degrees of freedom, there is no more than a factor of two spread in required number of degrees of freedom amongst the other possibilities.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1975
- Accession Number
- ADA339142
Entities
People
- David L. Fred