Closed-Loop Control Techniques for an Adaptive-Optical System with an Interferometric Wavefront Sensor (Postprint)

Abstract

The self-referencing interferometer (SRI) wavefront sensor (WRS) is being developed for applications requiring laser propagation in strong scintillation. Because it directly measures the optical field of the wavefront, the SRI WFS is less effected by scintillation than conventional WFSs. This feature also means the phrase determined from the WRS measurements is limited to the range-pie to pie, due to the use of the arctangent function. If a segmented wavefront corrector is used, this constraint is not a problem. However, if a continuous facesheet deformable mirror is used, the resulting phase should be unwrapped in order to minimize fitting error. There are a couple of places in the adaptive-optical (AO) closed-loop control process where unwrapping algorithm can he inserted. Simulations of these configurations have shown that how and where the unwrapping options and the associated issues. A laboratory demonstration of two control loop configurations was carried out to test the validity of the simulation results. These experiments and their outcome are discussed.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2006
Accession Number
ADA471804

Entities

People

  • Laura M. Klein
  • Troy A. Rhoadarmer

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Control Systems
  • Deformable Mirrors
  • Demonstrations
  • Interferometers
  • Measurement
  • Measuring Instruments
  • Mirrors
  • Scintillation
  • Segmented
  • Simulations
  • Wavefronts

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Approximation Theory.
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Robotics and Automation.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy