Lockheed Martin Corporation

Richard J Tansey

Peter H Chang

Avinash A Honkan

Nat Shankar

An adaptive optics system comprises a spatial light modulator, a beamsplitter, a pixelated spatial phase shifter, a beam combiner, an imaging device, and a processor. The spatial light modulator can modulate an incoming beam with an aberrated wavefront. The beamsplitter can receive the modulated beam and divide the modulated beam into a first beam and a second beam. The pixelated spatial phase shifter can spatially phase shift the second beam by at least two phases. The beam combiner can interfere the spatially phase shifted second beam with the first beam to form at least two interferograms on the imaging device, which can capture an image of the at least two interferograms in a single frame. The processor can determine the aberrated wavefront based on the at least two interferograms and provide one or more control signals to the spatial light modulator to mitigate aberrations in the aberrated wavefront.

Adaptive optics systems using pixelated spatial phase shifters

A spectrum analyzer device is provided having an optical 'pixel' sensor array in a focal plane on a single chip, and a dedicated processor for each optical sensor that performs a pixel-based calculation of the power spectral density for the illumination captured by the optical sensor. Photoelectrons are maintained on the chip, thereby resulting in a significantly improved signal-to-noise ratio for the device. The device includes a sensor array having optical sensors arranged in a focal plane, where each optical sensor outputs a photon output signal upon receiving reflected illumination. The device also includes transform analysis units which receive the photon output signals from corresponding optical sensors and output power spectral density signals. Sampling circuits output the power spectral density signals from corresponding transform analysis units, and an array storage device receives the power spectral density signals from the sampling circuits and converts them to corresponding illumination intensity signals.

Spectrum analyzer device on a chip

A method of performing closed loop correction of phase aberrations, including the steps of directing an incoming light beam into a black fringe wavefront sensor via an adaptive optical device ('AOD'), dividing the incoming light beam into measurement and reference beams, altering the path length of the measurement beam and the location of the black fringe by modulating a ramp voltage of a modulator, combining the measurement and reference beams into a common output beam, detecting the black fringe in the common output beam using detectors mapped to the AOD, storing, as tagged ramp voltages, a corresponding ramp voltage for each detector when it detects black fringe, calculating phase errors based upon the tagged ramp voltages and modulator scaling, calculating adaptive optics correction voltages based upon the phase errors, transmitting and applying the correction voltages to the AOD to correct phase aberrations of the incoming light beam via phase conjugation.

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Half Moon Bay, CA, United States of America

Richard J Tansey