Beam control system with extended beacon and method
US7041953B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 29, 2004 |
| Grant date | May 9, 2006 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 29, 2024 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01J1/0266
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A beam control system and method: The inventive system includes, an arrangement for receiving a first beam of electromagnetic energy; measuring wavefront aberrations in the first beam with a wavefront sensor; and removing global tilt from the measured wavefront aberrations to provide higher order aberrations for beam control. In the illustrative embodiment, the invention uses a traditional (quad-cell) Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor to measure wavefront aberrations. An adaptive optics processor electronically removes the global tilt (angular jitter) from this measurement leaving only the higher-order Zernike components. These higher-order aberrations are then applied to wavefront control elements, such as deformable mirrors or spatial light modulators that correct the tracker image and apply a conjugate distortion to the wavefront of the outgoing HEL beam. A track error (angular jitter) component is supplied by a separate fine track sensor. This jitter error is then applied by the adaptive optics processor to a fast steering mirror, which corrects jitter in the tracker image and applies a compensating distortion to the LOS of the HEL beam.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.