A high-contrast imaging coronagraph for segmented-mirror large aperture telescopes using a spatial light modulator

The primary mirrors of current and future large telescopes always employ a segmented mirror configuration.The small but non-negligible gaps between neighboring segments cause additional diffraction,which restricts the performance of high-contrast coronagraph.To solve this problem,we propose a coronagraph system based on a single liquid crystal spatial light modulator(SLM).This spatial light modulator is used for amplitude apodization,and its feasibility and potential performance are demonstrated using a laboratory setup using the stochastic parallel gradient descent(SPGD)algorithm to control the spatial light modulator,which is based on point spread function(PSF)sensing and evaluation and optimized for maximum contrast in the discovery working area as a merit function.The system delivers a contrast in the order of 10−6,and shows excellent potential to be used in current and future large aperture telescopes,both on the ground and in space.

Design and Research of Active Gravity Unloading Device for Large Aperture Optical Mirror

The large aperture optical mirror for space is processed and tested in the gravity environment on the ground. After entering space, gravity disappears due to the change of environment, and the mirror surface that has met the engineering requirements on the ground will change, seriously affecting the imaging quality. In order to eliminate the influence of gravity and to ensure the consistency of space and ground, gravity unloading must be performed. In order to meet the requirements of processing and testing for the large aperture space mirror in the state of vertical optical axis, a universal gravity unloading device was proposed. It was an active support and used air cylinders to provide accurate unloading force. First, the design flow of gravity unloading was introduced;then the detailed design of the mechanical structure and control system was given;then the performance parameters of the two types of cylinders were tested and compared, including the force-pressure relationship curve and the force-position relationship curve;finally, the experimental verification of the gravity unloading device was carried out;for a mirror with an aperture of ?2100 mm, the gravity unloading device was designed and a vertical detection optical path was built. The test results showed that by using this gravity unloading device, the actual processing surface accuracy of the mirror was better than 1/50λ-RMS, which met the application requirement of the optical system. Thus, it can be seen that using this gravity unloading device can effectively unload the gravity of the mirror and realize the accurate processing and measurement of the mirror surface. .

Estimation of Turbulent Sensible Heat and Momentum Fluxes over a Heterogeneous Urban Area Using a Large Aperture Scintillometer

The accurate determination of surface-layer turbulent fluxes over urban areas is critical to understanding urban boundary layer （UBL） evolution. In this study, a remote-sensing technique using a large aperture scintillometer （LAS） was investigated to estimate surface-layer turbulent fluxes over a highly heterogeneous urban area. The LAS system, with an optical path length of 2.1 km, was deployed in an urban area characterized by a complicated land-use mix （residential houses, water body, bare ground, etc.）. The turbulent sensible heat （QH） and momentum fluxes （z） were estimated from the scintillation measurements obtained from the LAS system during the cold season. Three-dimensional LAS footprint modeling was introduced to identify the source areas （＂footprint＂） of the estimated turbulent fluxes. The analysis results showed that the LAS-derived turbulent fluxes for the highly heterogeneous urban area revealed reasonable temporal variation during daytime on clear days, in comparison to the land-surface process-resolving numerical modeling. A series of sensitivity tests indicated that the overall uncertainty in the LAS-derived daytime QH was within 20%-30% in terms of the influence of input parameters and the non- dimensional similarity function for the temperature structure function parameter, while the estimation errors in z were less sensitive to the factors of influence, except aerodynamic roughness length. The 3D LAS footprint modeling characterized the source areas of the LAS-derived turbulent fluxes in the heterogeneous urban area, revealing that the representative spatial scales of the LAS system deployed with the 2.1 km optical path distance ranged from 0.2 to 2 km2 （a ＂micro-a scale＂）, depending on local meteorological conditions.

Large aperture phase-coded diffractive lens for achromatic and 16°field-of-view imaging with high efficiency

Diffractive lenses(DLs)can realize high-resolution imaging with light weight and compact size.Conventional DLs suffer large chromatic and off-axis aberrations,which significantly limits their practical applications.Although many achromatic methods have been proposed,most of them are used for designing small aperture DLs,which have low diffraction efficiencies.In the designing of diffractive achromatic lenses,increasing the aperture and improving the diffraction efficiency have become two of the most important design issues.Here,a novel phase-coded diffractive lens(PCDL)for achromatic imaging with a large aperture and high efficiency is proposed and demonstrated experimentally,and it also possesses wide field-of-view(FOV)imaging at the same time.The phase distribution of the conventional phase-type diffractive lens(DL)is coded with a cubic function to expand both the working bandwidth and the FOV of conventional DL.The proposed phase-type DL is fabricated by using the laser direct writing of grey-scale patterns for a PCDL of a diameter of 10 mm,a focal length of 100 mm,and a cubic phase coding parameter of 30π.Experimental results show that the working bandwidth and the FOV of the PCDL respectively reach 50 nm and 16°with over 8%focusing efficiency,which are in significant contrast to the counterparts of conventional DL and in good agreement with the theoretical predictions.This work provides a novel way for implementing the achromatic,wide FOV,and high-efficiency imaging with large aperture DL.

Large Aperture Mirror Surface Test

The large aperture mirror surface test is the basis of optical processing and alignment, and is also the key to the development of remote sensing device. The simulation results show that the RMS values of 1.07 m primary mirror with multi-point support and sling support are 1.86 nm and 3.28 nm respectively. Using 36 point unloading device, sponge 36 point free support and sling support to test the mirror surface, the results are basically consistent, RMS is better than 0.02λ (λ = 632.8 nm).

An Effective On-line Surface Particles Inspection Instrument for Large Aperture Optical Element

Surface particles growing in large aperture optical element （LAOE） have significant impact on LAOE＇s stable operation. It is a challenge for the online system to inspect the particles with long working distance, enough precision and high efficiency because of the system constraints. In this paper, an effective and portable inspection instrument is designed based on dark-field imaging principle. A Nikon lens and an industrial high definition （HD） camera are selected to construct the vision system to inspect particles of microns size spreading over hundreds of millimeters. Using two motors and other mechanical structure, the system can realize auto-focus and image rectification functions. The line light sources are installed on both sides of the LAOE in a sealed box while the vision system is portable and working outside the box. An adaptive binarization method is proposed to process the captured dark-field image. The distribution of particles on the LAOE＇s surface is investigated. Because of the high resolution of the captured image, the SSE2 instructions optimization method is used to reduce the time cost of the algorithm. Experiments show that the instrument can inspect LAOE effectively and accurately.

Wheel Setting Error Modeling and Compensation for Arc Envelope Grinding of Large-Aperture Aspherical Optics

Precision grinding is a key process for realizing the use of large-aperture aspherical optical elements in laser nuclear fusion devices,large-aperture astronomical telescopes,and high-resolution space cameras.In this study,the arc envelope grinding process of large-aperture aspherical optics is investigated using a CM1500 precision grinding machine with a maximum machinable diameter ofΦ1500 mm.The form error of the aspherical workpiece induced by wheel setting errors is analytically modeled for both parallel and cross grinding.Results show that the form error is more sensitive to the wheel setting error along the feed direction than that along the lateral direction.It is a bilinear function of the feed-direction wheel setting error and the distance to the optical axis.Based on the error function above,a method to determine the wheel setting error is proposed.Subsequently,grinding tests are performed with the wheels aligned accurately.Using a newly proposed partial error compensation method with an appropriate compensation factor,a form error of 3.4μm peak-to-valley(PV)for aΦ400 mm elliptical K9 glass surface is achieved.

A Scheme for Pixel-Scale Aerodynamic Surface Temperature over Hilly Land

Hilly-land satellite pixel-scale aerodynamic surface temperatures (AdST) are investigated using LAS (Large Aperture Scintillometer) and meteorological observations during 21-22 May 2001, indicating that the calculated temperatures are predominantly subject to estimated roughness lengths and, to a less extent, to estimated Bowen ratios, with errors to within 3.0 K between the AdST calculations and hilly radiometric surface temperatures retrieved from satellite data with the split window model. The errors depend heavily on the model used and the zenith angles and azimuth of the satellite and sun with respect to the observational site.

High Power VCSEL Device with Periodic Gain Active Region

High power vertical cavity surface emitting lasers(VCSEKLs) with large aperture have been fabricated through improving passivation, lateral oxidation and heat dissipation techniques. Different from conventional three quantum well structures, a periodic gain active region with nine quantum wells was incorporated into the VCSEL structure, with which high efficiency and high power operation were expected. The nine quantum wells were divided into three groups with each of them located at the antinodes of the cavity to enhance the coupling between the optical field and the gain region. Large aperture and bottom-emitting configuration were used to improve the beam quality and the heat dissipation. A maximum output power of 1.4 W was demonstrated at CW operation for a 400 μm-diameter device. The lasing wavelength shifted to 995.5 nm with a FWHM of 2 nm at a current of 4.8 A due to the internal heating and the absence of active water cooling. A ring-shape far field pattern was induced by the non-homogeneous lateral current distribution in large diameter device. The light intensity at the center of the ring increased with increasing current. A symmetric round light spot at the center and single transverse mode operation with a divergence angle of 16° were observed with current beyond 4.8 A.

Large stereoscopic LED display by use of parallax barrier of aperture grille type(Invited Paper)

We propose a large parallax barrier by use of aperture grille. Main advantages of using aperture grille include no reflection and no absorption in apertures, as well as wide viewing angle. These advantages are investigated with theoretical calculations and experiments by use of several kinds of LED panels, such as a fine-pitch LED panel and a 140-inch large LED panel. Limitations of viewing angle by parallax barrier are analyzed in conventional black stripes on a transparent substrate type and in aperture grille type. Experimental results straw use of aperture grille increases contrast and reduce reflection on the aperture surface.

Development of space-based diffractive telescopes

Membrane diffractive optical elements formed by fabricating microstructures on the substrates have two important characteristics,ultra-light mass(surface mass density<0.1 kg/m2)and loose surface shape tolerances(surface accuracy requirements are on the order of magnitude of centimeter).Large-aperture telescopes using a membrane diffractive optical element as the primary lens have super large aperture,light weight,and low cost at launch.In this paper,the research and development on space-based diffractive telescopes are classified and summarized.First,the imaging theory and the configuration of diffractive-optics telescopes are discussed.Then,the developments in diffractive telescopes are introduced.Finally,the development prospects for this technology used as a high-resolution space reconnaissance system in the future are summarized,and the critical and relevant work that China should carry out is put forward.