Field-Of-View Limitations Of Phased Telescope Arrays

    Authors

    J. E. Harvey;C. Ftaclas

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Appl. Optics

    Keywords

    PHASED TELESCOPE ARRAYS; SYNTHETIC APERTURE IMAGING; ABERRATIONS; PERFORMANCE; APERTURE; DESIGN; Optics

    Abstract

    The optical performance of imaging phased telescope arrays is degraded by various design, manufacturing, and operational errors. Perhaps the most basic and fundamental of these error sources are the residual aberrations of the optical design chosen for the individual telescopes. We show that third-order field curvature and distortion, which are rather benign aberrations in a conventional telescope, result in relative phase and tilt errors between the individual telescopes making up the array. The field-dependent image degradation caused by these relative phase and tilt errors is then predicted for different subaperture configurations and telescope design parameters. For phased arrays made up of simple two-mirror telescopes, distortion limits the field of view to less than 5 arcmin for small subapertures (D < 0.5 m), and field curvature limits the field of view to less than 1 arcmin for subaperture diameters greater than 2 m. Quantitative parametric results yielding tolerances for residual field curvature as the phased array is scaled up in size are presented graphically. If a 0.5-deg field of view is desired for telescope diameters greater than 2 m, complex telescope configurations are necessary to satisfy the rather tight tolerances on both field curvature and distortion.

    Journal Title

    Applied Optics

    Volume

    34

    Issue/Number

    25

    Publication Date

    1-1-1995

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    5787

    Last Page

    5798

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:A1995RR04400032

    ISSN

    0003-6935

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