Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor of self-adapting optical system

Abstract

A Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor used for an adaptive optical system is suitable for a large-diameter astronomical telescope and comprises a beam-shrinking system and an array lens. The wavefront sensor is characterized in that a beam-dividing system, at least two sets of coupling object lens, at least two sets of CCD detectors and a signal synchronous collecting system are also adopted; after the wavefront information is divided into the wavefront sub-array by the array lens, the beam-dividing system is adopted to divide the wavefront sub-array into at least two sub zones in space and each sub-zone adopts one coupling object lens and one CCD detector for slope detection; the wavefront information of each sub-zone is collected and processed by the signal synchronous collecting system; the obtained slopes are combined and then are recovered to get a complete wavefront phase distribution; at least two sets of detector are adopted to work in parallel so as to reduce the capability requirement to the CCD detectors and effectively overcome the technical difficulties to the CCD detector by the excessive detection sub apertures; the wavefront sensor is insensitive to the optical path overall errors and the tilt errors which can not be easily overcome in the assembling-regulating process of the beam-dividing system, thus adding no the complexity to the sensor system.

Description

Technical field [0001] The invention relates to a Shak-Hartmann wavefront sensor, in particular to a Shak-Hartmann wavefront sensor applied to an adaptive optical system of a very large-aperture astronomical telescope. Background technique [0002] Adaptive optics technology was proposed in the 1950s and has been rapidly developed subsequently. From the initial stage of military application, and gradually developed to the field of astronomical observation applications. Since the adaptive optics system effectively corrects the effects of atmospheric turbulence, almost all large-aperture telescopes in the world are equipped with adaptive optics systems. [0003] Thanks to the successful application of adaptive optics technology, the potential of large-aperture astronomical telescopes has been fully utilized. Currently, the world's largest operating telescope with a diameter of 10m. Astronomers are not satisfied with this. The astronomical community of various countries has carried ...

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