This paper presents consecutive correction of the low- and high-order wavefront aberrations. To compensate for large-scale phase distortions bimorph deformable mirror was used with aperture 50 mm and 28 electrodes. The mitigation of the small-scale distortions was performed with 78-mm and 55 actuators wavefront corrector of the piezostack type. To investigate behavior of the laser beam two Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors and far-field camera were used.
Laser beam shaping problem remains relevant for various applications of modern laser physics – from laser cutting of metals to wireless long-distance energy transmission. For example, the transformation of the original Gaussian profile into flat-top profile is necessary to improve the technology (material processing, holograms recording) while the doughnut-like profile ensures uniform temperature distribution on a target and increases the stability of various thermal processes, such as melting. To solve this problem the automated adaptive optical system with phase-only special light modulator and intensity analyzer are assembled and tested. The experimental results of the flat-top and doughnut-like intensity distributions formation are presented. We were able to concentrate ~60% and 75% of the initial beam energy for the doughnut-like and flat-top intensity distributions, correspondingly.
A multispectral wavefront sensor can be used to perform a single-shot spatio-temporal characterization of a laser pulse. In order to measure the spatio-spectral electric field, a laser pulse can be spectrally modulated, separated and measured by a wavefront sensor. In order to simplify the experimental setup and hardware control, the single wavefront sensor can be used. In this research we discuss the development of the multi-channel wide-aperture high-resolution Shack-Hartmann sensor for multispectral wavefront sensing. The whole sensor area of 15×15 mm was divided into four logical apertures, each for separate laser beam. The development and calibration procedure are described. The wavefront sensor control software is developed and tested.
The adaptive optical system with phase-only spatial light modulator and CCD intensity analyzer were assembled and tested. The experimental results of formation of the flattop and doughnut-like intensity distributions were presented. Up to 75 % of the initial energy were concentrated inside the target shape of the far field.
The semi-automatic system for laser beam alignment was developed and researched. The alignment system was used to make the laser beam follow the predetermined path through the optical scheme (basically a series of reflective surfaces such as mirrors or lenses). The algorithm and the software to control the system was developed and tested. The system contained of diode laser source, two gimbal mirror mounts with stepper motors, multi-axis motion controller, near field sensor, far field sensor, wavefront sensor, and control software. It allowed to control the positioning of the beam, tip-tilt and overall curvature of the wavefront.
Phase-only spatial light modulator with Full HD resolution was applied to focus laser radiation that passed through the thick layer of the scattering suspension. Polystyrene microbeads of 1 μm diameter diluted in distilled water was used as a scattering medium. The concentration values of the suspension were varied from 105 to 106 mm-3. In order to analyze the intensity distribution of the focal spot in the far-field a CCD camera with micro-objective was used. Shack-Hartmann sensor was used to analyze the wavefront distortions caused by the scattering medium. We demonstrated that the assembled experimental setup can increase the integral intensity of the focused light by approximately 10% while simultaneously decrease the focal spot size by approximately 20%.
The paper presents an analysis of designing an optical-electronic imaging system designed to operate in a turbulent atmosphere. The optoelectronic system design is based on hill-climbing and phase conjugation technique using a bimorph adaptive mirror and a Shack-Hartmann-type wavefront sensor. The system corrects the wavefront distortion of the laser radiation passing through the test object and an inhomogeneous medium that simulates a turbulent atmosphere. Criteria for restoring the geometric characteristics of the test object are analyzed using the proposed hybrid algorithm, including spatial-frequency analysis of the recorded spectrum.
In this paper we demonstrate the results of implementation of B-spline surface approximation algorithm for Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. We compared the efficiency of reconstruction of simple simulated wavefronts, represented by the single aberrations, such as defocus, coma, astigmatism, trefoil, spherical aberration, etc. by means of Zernike and B-spline polynomials. We also demonstrated the efficiency of the use of B-spline approximation of the complex wavefronts: Franke surface (RMS of the initial and the reconstructed surface was equal to 0.38 and 0.39 um, respectively) and wavefront of the thin ring-shaped detail (outer/inner diameter of the ring was 114/95 mm) with the peak-to-valley of approximately 3.5 um.
A fast adaptive optical system, operating at frequencies up to 2000 Hz (frames per second), was used to analyze turbulence created in the laboratory by using a fan heater. The turbulent distortion bandwidth was approximately 100 Hz. The expansion of the wavefront in terms of Zernike polynomials was used when processing the raw data. Then the statistical analysis was performed separately for each polynomial. As a result, the degree of predominance of definite aberrations in the wavefront of laser radiation was obtained. Taylor's hypothesis is confirmed: low-order aberrations are slower than high-order ones. The dependence of the correction quality on the number of corrected Zernike polynomials is also shown.
A bimorph deformable mirror with a diameter of 320 mm, including 127 control electrodes, has been developed and investigated. The flatness of the initial surface of the mirror RMS = 0.16 μm was achieved due to mechanical adjustment in the system of fixing the mirror substrate in the frame. An adaptive system with deformable mirrors and a ShackHartmann-type wavefront sensor was installed in a 4.2 PW Ti: Sa laser. Correction of the wavefront made it possible to obtain a record radiation intensity in the focusing plane of 1.1x1023 W/cm2, while the Strehl ratio was 0.84.
KEYWORDS: Field programmable gate arrays, Mirrors, Photodiodes, Data communications, Zernike polynomials, Wavefronts, Laser systems engineering, Turbulence, Data conversion, Wavefront sensors
We present an adaptive optical system to stabilize the position of a laser beam passed through the turbulent atmosphere. The system uses two tip-tilt mirrors and is controlled by an FPGA to increase the bandwidth. An internal FPGA structure is presented. FPGA reads the error signal from the sensors formed by quadrant photodiodes and calculates the voltages to be applied to the piezo-driven tip-tilt mirrors by the control units.
A high-quality flat wavefront is usually used to calibrate the Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors. The article discusses the possibility of calibrating sensors with spherical wavefronts. Special attention is paid to the consideration of calibration in standard laboratory conditions. The mathematical apparatus and the scheme of the experiment are considered. A statistical analysis of the calibration accuracy of the Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor is carried out. Spherical wavefronts from a point source were used as references. As a result, the parameters of the wavefront sensor were determined: the focal length and the dimensions of the digital camera pixel. This calibration method is considered in comparison with the traditional calibration using flat wavefronts.
Experimental investigations of visible laser radiation focusing through a scattering medium using LCOS-SLM with the resolution 1920x1080 was performed. Optical depth of the scattering medium was varied from 1 to 10, anisotropy factor was equal to 0.9. According to the principle of similarity the medium with such parameters can be considered as an equivalent to the layer of the mid-density fog with the length from 300 m up to 5 km. Experimental investigations of the focusing improvement have demonstrated that it is possible to decrease the diameter of the focal spot by 5-13%.
The results of experiments carried out on the setup of a fast adaptive optical system are presented. A fan heater was used as a source of wavefront aberrations, the air flow of which was directed perpendicular to the laser beam. The processing of the experimental data consisted in determining the spectral characteristics of the disturbing effect from the dynamics of oscillations of the coordinates of the focal point of the lens array. To ensure sufficient resolution in the frequency domain, a sample of the original data was recorded for 10 s, which provided a resolution along the frequency axis of 1/10 Hz. The graphs of the spectral energy for the full set of wavefront aberrations calculated from the fluctuations of the lens array focal spot are shown. For a more detailed consideration, the wavefront aberrations were expanded in terms of Zernike polynomials, after which a spectral analysis of each aberration was carried out. It is shown that more than 90% of all turbulence energy is concentrated in lower-order aberrations, which makes it possible to use a bimorph mirror as a wavefront corrector, which reproduces well the lower-order aberrations.
Conventional Shack-Hartmann sensor uses Zernike polynomials in order to approximate the wavefront of the light. Zernike approximation is well-known, well-established and widely used technique. And in most cases the quality of approximation is good enough, especially if the measured light beam has circular aperture. But when the light beam is rectangular or ringshaped (for example, if one need to measure the surface flatness of the detail that is ring-shaped), the approximation using Zernike polynomials fails. In this work we implemented the approach of the approximation of the wavefront using Bspline polynomials. We present the results of approximation of a complex simulated wavefront (Franke surface) and an experimentally measured wavefront of the ring-shaped detail using B-Spline polynomials.
The results of experiments conducted on a laboratory setup of a fast adaptive optical system based on the use of FPGA as the main control element and a bimorph mirror as a wavefront corrector are presented. The adaptive system bandwidth ranged from a dozen Hertz to 2,000 Hertz. For independent control of the quality of correction the intensity distribution in the far field was recorded. It is shown that for a good correction of the wavefront the system bandwidth should be an order of magnitude higher than the upper boundary of the spectrum of wavefront distortions caused by turbulence. A comparison of the model and experimental data is also presented.
The article discusses the use of stacked-actuator adaptive mirrors to improve the focusing of laser radiation. The criterion of focusing efficiency is the fraction of the energy of the laser radiation passing through the pinhole located in the focal plane of the focusing lens.
Increasing of the focusing efficiency of partially coherent laser radiation propagated through a scattering medium was investigated. To improve focusing of scattered laser beam, we applied bimorph deformable mirror with 48 control electrodes and LCOS-SLM with 1920×1080 pixels resolution and compared their efficiencies. We used 5 mm thick glass cuvette filled with the suspension of 1 um polystyrene microspheres, diluted in distilled water. The concentration of scatterers were varied from 105 to 106 mm-3 . According to principle of similarity a medium with such parameters can be considered as an equivalent to the middle-density fog layer with the length ranging from 300 meters up to 5 kilometers. Numerical and experimental investigation of the focusing improvement showed that it is possible to increase the peak intensity of the focal spot up to 60%.
The results of experiments carried out on the installation of a fast adaptive optical system with a bandwidth of 1500 Hz are presented. Graphs of the spectral power and normalized energy of Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor focal spot fluctuations are presented. Theoretical calculations and experimental data are compared. It is shown that in order to achieve a satisfactory correction of distortions caused by turbulence, the system operation frequency should be an order of magnitude higher than the maximum frequency of turbulent distortions.
One of the main problems in tasks of laser beam propagation though Earth’s atmosphere is decrease the efficiency of the optic-electronic systems operation due to atmospheric turbulence influence that leads to laser beam’s wavefront distortions. Use of fast adaptive optical system are suggested to solve this problem. It allows to compensate the wavefront distortions, which upper bound of the spectrum is up to 150 Hz, in real time. Owing to the fact that adaptive optical system is discrete (it’s defined by digital camera included in the system), the sampling rate shall be at least 1500 Hz (frames per second).
The results of numerical simulations and experiments on the correction of turbulent distortions of a laser beam are presented. The experiments were carried out using an adaptive optical system with a bandwidth of 2000 Hz. It was shown that for effective correction the bandwidth of the adaptive optical system should be an order of magnitude larger than the bandwidth of turbulent distortions.
Bimorph deformable mirror with 63 electrodes on 20 mm aperture is discussed. Methods of dividing all round electrode into sectors with a square of 2-4 mm2 are described. Results of flat-top beam formation by means of 50 mm bimorph deformable mirror with 48 electrodes and 20 mm miniature bimorph mirror with 27 electrodes are presented.
An adaptive optical system that implements a phase conjugation algorithm designed to compensate for the effect of atmospheric turbulence the propagating laser beam is presented. The system allows compensating for the influence of atmospheric disturbances up to 200 Hz (in terms of sine). To achieve the compensation effect system operates at a frequency of 2000 Hz (in terms of fps - frames per second). Such high performance can be achieved only when using FPGA as the master control element of the system. The results of correction of disturbances obtained by using a heat fan, simulating the turbulence to frequencies of 200 Hz, are presented.
We present a device using Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor for measuring concave optical parts. A technique based on the device makes it easy to measure the main parameters of the aspherical equation of concave aspherical mirrors, radius of closest sphere Rv and eccentricity ε. The described method allows you to reconstruct the shape of the controlled surface in the form of an equation specified during its manufacture.
In tasks related to free-space communications, a significant role has a turbulent atmosphere which influences lead to a decrease in the efficiency of systems. Since the characteristic turbulence spectrum rarely exceeds 100 Hz for typical paths, it is proposed to use a discrete adaptive optical system with a frequency of 1500 frames per second to reduce the influence of the atmosphere. The structure of the system based on the use of FPGA as a computing device as well as the main results associated with the correction of both static and dynamic components of aberrations are presented.
Laser beam shaping technology nowadays requires as small diameter of the adaptive optics as possible. In our lab we usually control for laser radiation by means of bimorph deformable mirrors with a typical size of more than 50 mm. To fit the most of industrial and scientific applications the aperture of the corrector should be reduced because the use of extra optics instead makes the whole optical scheme more complicated and introduces extra distortions. But in a bid to reduce the size of the mirror we should care of the response of the mirror electrodes which obviously should not decrease drastically. Here we present 20 mm bimorph mirror with high density of electrodes which is manufactured using laser engraving technology to divide the electrode on the piezoceramic disc into a large number of the controlled sectors. The ability of laser beam formation by means of this mirror is discussed, the results are compared with the ones obtained using 50 mm bimorph deformable mirror.
The article discusses the use of stacked-actuator adaptive mirrors to improve the focusing of laser radiation. The criterion of focusing efficiency is the fraction of the energy of the laser radiation passing through the pinhole located in the focal plane of the focusing lens.
In this work, we investigate the efficiency of the use of the bimorph deformable mirror to focusing laser beam in the pinhole. Pinholes of different diameters are used as an instrument for focusing verification. Different algorithms are discussed and analyzed for the investigation of the process of the beam focusing. It is shown that tip-tilt correction is an essential condition for increasing the focusing efficiency.
Bimorph deformable mirror with the clear aperture of 50 mm and 48 control electrodes and spatial light modulator with resolution of 1920x1080 pixels were used to increase the efficiency of focusing of partially coherent laser radiation, propagated through the 5 mm layer of the scattering suspension of 1 um polystyrene microspheres, diluted in distilled water, with the concentration values ranging from 105 to 106 mm-3. Medium with such parameters can be considered as an equivalent to the mid-dense fog layer with the length ranging from 300–500 meters up to 5 kilometers. Shack- Hartmann sensor was used to measure the distortions of averaged wavefront of laser beam, and CCD camera was used to estimate the intensity distribution of the focal spot in the far-field. Numerical and experimental investigation of the focusing improvement showed that it is possible to increase the peak intensity of the focal spot up to 45–60 %.
This article discusses the use of bimorph adaptive mirrors to improve the focusing of laser radiation. The criterion of
focusing efficiency is the fraction of the energy of the laser radiation passing through the pinhole located in the focal
plane of the focusing lens.
We present our latest research results on intensity distribution transformation from Gaussian to a flattop and doughnut. The theoretical calculations and experimental results of the efficiency of different types of deformable mirrors are given. During the experiments the wavefront was measured with Shack-Hartmann sensor and then modified with bimorph deformable mirror to reach the desired intensity distribution in the far-field. Then the bimorph mirror was substituted with the stacked-actuators deformable mirror to confirm the simulations.
A high-quality flat wave front is usually used to calibrate the Shach-Hartmann wave-front sensors. The article discusses the possibility of calibrating sensors with spherical wave fronts. Special attention is paid to the consideration of calibration in standard laboratory conditions. The mathematical apparatus and the scheme of the experiment are considered.
The ability to focus laser beam with wavelength 0.65 um through the multiply scattering suspension of polystyrene microspheres, diluted in distilled water, was investigated. Experimental setup, contained the Shack-Hartmann sensor for measurements of the local slopes of the Poynting vector, the CCD camera for estimation of the far-field focal spot’s intensity and the bimorph mirror with 48 electrodes was built. Numerical and experimental investigations of focusing efficiency was carried out also.
Laser beam focusing (λ = 0.65 μm) through the scattering suspension of polystyrene microspheres in distilled water was investigated. Shack-Hartmann sensor was used to measure the local slopes of the Poynting vector, the CCD camera was used to measure the far-field focal spot’s intensity. Numerical and experimental investigations of focusing efficiency of the two bimorph deformable mirrors with 14 and 48 control channels were performed.
The latest results on intensity distribution transformation from Gaussian to a flattop and doughnut are presented in the paper. The wavefront was modified with bimorph deformable mirror to reach the desired intensity distribution in the farfield. LC phase modulator was also considered as an alternative device for laser beam shaping. The theoretical calculations and experimental results of the efficiency of different types of wavefront correctors are given.
The process of remapping the intensity profile of a laser beam is presented. Bimorph deformable mirror was used to change the beam phase; the control signals for the mirror were calculated in accordance with both phase analysis and far-field intensity distribution measurements.
In this paper we consider two approaches widely used in testing of spherical optical surfaces: Fizeau interferometer and Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. Fizeau interferometer that is widely used in optical testing can be transformed to a device using Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, the alternative technique to check spherical optical components. We call this device Hartmannometer, and compare its features to those of Fizeau interferometer.
We investigated the ability to focus laser beam (λ = 0.65 nm), propagated through the scattering suspension of polystyrene microspheres in distilled water, by means of two bimorph mirrors. Shack-Hartmann sensor was used to measure the local slopes of the Poynting vector, and the CCD camera was used to measure the intensity of the focal spot in the far-field. Correction efficiency of the two bimorph deformable mirrors — with 14 and 31 control channels — were compared. Numerical and experimental investigation of the focusing improvement of the laser beam propagated through the scattering medium was performed.
The transformation of an intensity distribution from Gaussian to a flattop, doughnut, etc. still is a very interesting and important task. And the necessary result could be obtained with the use of adaptive optics that changes the phase of the beam and modifies the shape of the focal spot in the far-field zone. In this paper, we present the flattop and doughnut beam formation result with the use of a bimorph and stacked-actuator deformable mirrors as well as LC phase modulator. The experimental results are also given.
Distortions of the scattered laser beam (λ=0.65μm) were numerically estimated by means of Shack-Hartmann technique
and experimentally measured. The ability to focus laser beam, passed through the scattering suspension of polystyrene
microspheres in distilled water, using bimorph deformable mirror was investigated both numerically and experimentally.
Shack-Hartmann technique was used to measure the local slopes of the Poynting vector, and CCD camera was used to
analyze the intensity distribution of the focal spot in the far-field. Bimorph deformable mirror with 14 electrodes was
utilized in order to increase the focusing efficiency of the laser beam. The voltages to be applied to the mirror electrodes
were calculated using three techniques: LSQ (least squares) fit-error minimization by Shack-Hartmann sensor, Hillclimbing
optimization by Shack-Hartmann sensor and Hill-climbing optimization by the far-field CCD camera.
Laser beam propagation through the scattering suspension of polystyrene microspheres in distilled water was studied. The distorted laser beam was analyzed by both Shack-Hartmann sensor and CCD camera. The measured local slopes of the Poynting vector were compensated for by means of bimorph deformable mirror with 14 electrodes in order to increase the intensity of the focal spot in the far-field. Three different techniques for laser beam focusing were implemented and compared: LSQ fit-error minimization by Shack-Hartmann sensor, Hill-climbing optimization by Shack-Hartmann sensor and Hill-climbing optimization by far-field CCD camera.
We investigate the ability to focus the laser beam (λ=0.65μm) propagated through the scattering suspension of polystyrene microspheres in distilled water by means of bimorph deformable mirror. Shack-Hartmann sensor was used to measure the local slopes of the Poynting vector, while the CCD camera was used to measure the intensity of the focal spot in the farfield. Bimorph deformable mirror with 14 electrodes was applied in order to increase the intensity of the focal spot in the far-field. We investigated the efficiency of the laser beam focusing improvement by means of three techniques: LSQ fiterror minimization by Shack-Hartmann sensor, Hill-climbing optimization by Shack-Hartmann sensor and Hill-climbing optimization by far-field CCD camera.
In this paper we consider two approaches widely used in testing of wide aperture optics: Fizeau interferometer and Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. Fizeau interferometer that is common instrument in optical testing can be transformed to a device using Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, the alternative technique to check wide aperture optical components. We call this device Hartmannometer, and compare its features to those of Fizeau interferometer.
In this paper we consider two approaches widely used in optical testing: Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor and Fizeau
interferometer technique. Fizeau interferometer that is widely used in optical testing can be easily transformed to a device
using Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, the alternative technique to check optical components. We call this device
Hartmannometer, and compare its features to those of Fizeau interferometer.
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