Pupil inversion Mach-Zehnder interferometry for diffraction-limited optical astronomical imaging
| Autor: | María C. Nistal, Jesús Liñares, Vicente Moreno, Xesús Prieto-Blanco, Dolores Mouriz, Carlos Montero-Orille |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Diffraction
Physics business.industry media_common.quotation_subject Aperture synthesis Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Physics::Optics 02 engineering and technology 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology Mach–Zehnder interferometer Polarization (waves) 01 natural sciences Atomic and Molecular Physics and Optics law.invention 010309 optics Telescope Interferometry Optics Sky law 0103 physical sciences Spatial frequency 0210 nano-technology business media_common |
| Zdroj: | Optics express. 28(19) |
| ISSN: | 1094-4087 |
| Popis: | We present theoretical and laboratory experimental results on a robust interferometric device based on pupil inversion, or 180° rotational shearing interferometry. The image of an astronomical object degraded by the atmosphere turbulence can be restored (ideally up to the diffraction limit) by a numerical post-processing of the interferogram. Unlike previous Michelson configurations that return half of the light to the sky, the Mach-Zehnder interferometer has no fundamental losses when both outputs are used. The interferogram is formed by two overlapped images of the telescope pupil, but one of them is spatially inverted, and out of phase by π/2 only in its half. This optical operation is achieved in a robust way by inserting a refractive optical image inverter and a binary phase plate in one of the arms of the interferometer. In this way, the system has no polarization dependence or moving parts since the plate allows the object to be retrieved numerically from just one interferogram (single exposition) or a few independent interferograms. For that, several algorithms are proposed. Likewise, we include a laboratory proof-of-concept in which a diffraction-limited image is obtained in spite of presence of aberrations and photon noise. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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