Wave-front distortion compensation using direct system performance metric optimization is studied both theoretically and experimentally. It is shown how different requirements for wave-front control can be incorporated, and how information from different wave-front sensor types can be fused, within a generalized gradient descent optimization paradigm. In our experiments a very-large-scale integration (VLSI) system implementing a simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation optimization algorithm was applied for real-time adaptive control of multielement wave-front correctors. The custom-chip controller is used in two adaptive laser beam focusing systems, one with a 127-element liquid-crystal phase modulator and the other with beam steering and 37-control channel micromachined deformable mirrors. The submillisecond response time of the micromachined deformable mirror and the parallel nature of the analog VLSI control architecture provide for high-speed adaptive compensation of dynamical phase aberrations of a laser beam under conditions of strong intensity scintillations. Experimental results demonstrate improvement of laser beam quality at the receiver plane in the spectral band up to 60 Hz.

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Adaptive optics based on analog parallel stochastic optimization: analysis and experimental demonstration

In connection with the wide use of optoelectronic systems, we review the development of adaptive optics as an effective tool that allows using controllable optical elements to eliminate irregular distortions that occur as light propagates in an inhomogeneous medium. The subject matter of this rapidly developing field of science and technology is described. Of the ideas under development in recent years, many have been around for quite a long time, but it is only now, with the development of an up-to-date optoelectronic element base, that they have started being widely incorporated into science and engineering practice. We discuss the development of adaptive optics from mere ideas to their application in astronomy, high-power laser physics, and medicine. The current state of adaptive optics in stellar and solar astronomy is reviewed, and some results of its use in distortion correction systems of high-power laser systems and facilities are presented.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3367/UFNe.0184.201406b.0599/pdf

Adaptive optics in the formation of optical beams and images

We describe a procedure by which a long () optical path through atmospheric turbulence can be experimentally simulated in a controlled fashion and scaled down to distances easily accessible in a laboratory setting. This procedure is then used to simulate a 1 km long free-space communication link in which information is encoded in orbital angular momentum spatial modes. We also demonstrate that standard adaptive optics methods can be used to mitigate many of the effects of thick atmospheric turbulence.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1367-2630/16/3/033020/pdf

Simulating thick atmospheric turbulence in the lab with application to orbital angular momentum communication

Wavefront control experiments in strong scintillation conditions (scintillation index, ≃1) over a 2.33 km, near-horizontal, atmospheric propagation path are presented. The adaptive-optics system used comprises a tracking and a fast-beam-steering mirror as well as a 132-actuator, microelectromechanical-system, piston-type deformable mirror with a VLSI controller that implements stochastic parallel gradient descent control optimization of a system performance metric. The experiments demonstrate mitigation of atmospheric distortions with a speckle beacon typical for directed energy and free-space laser communication applications.

Atmospheric compensation with a speckle beacon in strong scintillation conditions: directed energy and laser communication applications

We demonstrate coherent beam combining and adaptive mitigation of atmospheric turbulence effects over 7 km under strong scintillation conditions using a coherent fiber array laser transmitter operating in a target-in-the-loop setting. The transmitter system is composed of a densely packed array of 21 fiber collimators with integrated capabilities for piston, tip, and tilt control of the outgoing beams wavefront phases. A small cat's-eye retro reflector was used for evaluation of beam combining and turbulence compensation performance at the target plane, and to provide the feedback signal for control of piston and tip/tilt phases of the transmitted beams using the stochastic parallel gradient descent maximization of the power-in-the-bucket metric.

Deep turbulence effects mitigation with coherent combining of 21 laser beams over 7 km.

Most atmospheric-turbulence-compensation experiments have been performed under weak-scintillation conditions; conventional phase-conjugate adaptive-optics systems usually provide good correction for these conditions. We have performed an experiment over a 5.5-km horizontal propagation path to explore the efficacy of conventional adaptive optics in strong-scintillation conditions. The experimental results showed a significant degradation in correction as the scintillation increased. The presence of branch points in the phase appears to be the primary reason for the degradation in correction as the scintillation increases.

Thomas R. Price

Papers

Atmospheric-compensation experiments in strong-scintillation conditions.