Adaptive optics: wave-front correction by use of adaptive filtering and control

Zonal slope prediction for open-loop adaptive optics

We present what we believe to be the first results that obtained with the recursive least square zonal slope predictor working on an open-loop liquid-crystal adaptive optics system operating on astronomical implementation at visible and near infrared wavelength on a 1.23 m telescope. The system produces substantially better results than a direct open-loop correction based on previous measurement. A 27% relative gain in full-width at half-maximum and 30% relative gain in Strehl ratio are obtained.

Adaptive control in an adaptive optics experiment

This paper presents results from an adaptive optics experiment in which an adaptive control loop augments a classical adaptive optics feedback loop. Closed-loop wavefront errors measured by a self-referencing interferometer are fed back to the control loops, which drive a membrane deformable mirror to correct the wavefront. The paper introduces new frequency-weighted deformable mirror modes used as the control channels and new wavefront sensor modes for analyzing the performance of the control loops. The corrected laser beam also is imaged by a diagnostic target camera. The experimental results show reduced closed-loop wavefront errors and correspondingly sharper diagnostic target images produced by the adaptive control loop as compared with the classical AO loop.

Optimal control, observers and integrators in adaptive optics

The fundamental issue of residual phase variance minimization in adaptive optics (AO) loops is addressed here from a control engineering perspective. This problem, when suitably modeled using a state-space approach, can be broken down into an optimal deterministic control problem and an optimal estimation problem, the solution of which are a linear quadratic (LQ) control and a Kalman filter. This approach provides a convenient framework for analyzing existing AO controllers, which are shown to contain an implicit phase turbulent model. In particular, standard integrator-based AO controllers assume a constant turbulent phase, which renders them prone to the notorious wind-up effect.

Performance of a compact adaptive-optics system

The design of an adaptive-optics system for correction of a beam propagating through high-speed, unpredictable optical turbulence required the use of a robust controller rather than a conventional least-squares controller. We describe the 37-channel, 50-Hz adaptive-optical system and its performance (lambda/75 rms).