Optical sparse-aperture system can be designed to obtain high resolution in astronomical object imaging with several independent small-aperture telescopes. However, the images from separated telescopes are not only overlapped but also have same phase. Ordinarily, the phase of each sub-aperture can be obtained by wave-front sensing technology, such as phase retrieval algorithms, but this method requires more than one CCD and interfere the wave front. In this work, we use the differences between PSFs from each sub-array to get the type and size of the co-phase error. Finally, submit the results to mechanical system as a feedback for phase retrieval. We used Golay-3 system as an example to verify the above conclusions. The output is consistent with the pre-set value within the allowable error. The results show that this method is feasible and reasonable.

Date Published: 30 November 2009
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 7506, 2009 International Conference on Optical Instruments and Technology: Optical Systems and Modern Optoelectronic Instruments, 750626 (30 November 2009); doi: 10.1117/12.838074

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7506:
2009 International Conference on Optical Instruments and Technology: Optical Systems and Modern Optoelectronic Instruments
Yongtian Wang; Yunlong Sheng; Kimio Tatsuno, Editor(s)