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The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) uses a novel, three-mirror, telescope design feeding a camera system that includes a set of broad-band filters and three refractive corrector lenses to produce a flat field at the focal plane with a wide field of view. Optical design of the camera lenses and filters is integrated in with the optical design of telescope mirrors to optimize performance. We discuss the rationale for the LSST camera optics design, describe the methodology for fabricating, coating, mounting and testing the lenses and filters, and present the results of detailed analyses demonstrating that the camera optics will meet their performance goals.

The Space-based Telescopes for Actionable Refinement of Ephemeris (STARE) program will collect the information needed to help satellite operators avoid collisions in space by using a network of nano-satellites to determine more accurate trajectories for selected space objects orbiting the Earth. In the first phase of the STARE program, two pathfinder cube-satellites (CubeSats) equipped with an optical imaging payload are being developed and deployed to demonstrate the main elements of the STARE concept. In this paper, we first give an overview of the STARE program. We then describe the details of the optical imaging payload for the STARE pathfinder CubeSats, including the optical design and the sensor characterization. Finally, we discuss the track detection algorithm that will be used on the images acquired by the payload.

We demonstrated the used of an adaptive optic system in biological imaging to improve the imaging characteristics of a wide field microscope. A crimson red fluorescent bead emitting light at 650 nm was used together with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor and deformable mirror to compensate for the aberrations introduce by a Drosophila embryo. The measurement and correction at one wavelength improves the resolving power at a different wavelength, enabling the structure of the sample to be resolved (510 nm). The use of the crimson beads allow for less photobleaching to be done to the science object of the embryo, in this case our GFP model (green fluorescent beads), and allows for the science object and wavefront reference to be spectrally separated. The spectral separation allows for single points sources to be used for wavefront measurements, which is a necessary condition for the Shack-Hartmann Wavefront sensor operation.

We summarize the performance of an AO-OCT system with reference arm phase shifting for complex conjugate artifactfree imaging of in vivo retinal structures. As a complex conjugate artifact removal (CCR) method we used a previously reported technique requiring constant phase shifts between consecutive A-scans. In our system these shifts were generated by continuous beam path-length changes from offsetting the pivot point of the scanning mirror placed in the system reference arm. In order to reconstruct the complex spectral fringe pattern we used Fourier transformation along the transverse axis and a filtering algorithm. The suppression ratio of mirror complex artifact images was assessed based on acquired in vivo CCR AO-OCT images. Finally, potential problems and limitations connected with this acquisition scheme and data processing algorithms are discussed.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is a large aperture, wide-field facility designed to provide deep images of half the sky every few nights. There is only a single instrument on the telescope, a 9.6 square degree visible-band camera, which is mounted close to the secondary mirror, and points down toward the tertiary. The requirements of the LSST camera present substantial technical design challenges. To cover the entire 0.35 to 1 μm visible band, the camera incorporates an array of 189 over-depleted bulk silicon CCDs with 10 μm pixels. The CCDs are assembled into 3 x 3 "rafts", which are then mounted to a silicon carbide grid to achieve a total focal plane flatness of 15 μm p-v. The CCDs have 16 amplifiers per chip, enabling the entire 3.2 Gigapixel image to be read out in 2 seconds. Unlike previous astronomical cameras, a vast majority of the focal plane electronics are housed in the cryostat, which uses a mixed refrigerant Joule-Thompson system to maintain a -100oC sensor temperature. The shutter mechanism uses a 3 blade stack design and a hall-effect sensor to achieve high resolution and uniformity. There are 5 filters stored in a carousel around the cryostat and the auto changer requires a dual guide system to control its position due to severe space constraints. This paper presents an overview of the current state of the camera design and development plan.

We obtained 960,200 22-by-22-pixel windowed images of a pinhole spot using the Teledyne H2RG CMOS detector with un-cooled SIDECAR readout. We performed an analysis to determine the precision we might expect in the position error signals to a telescope's guider system. We find that, under non-optimized operating conditions, the error in the computed centroid is strongly dependent on the total counts in the point image only below a certain threshold, approximately 50,000 photo-electrons. The LSST guider camera specification currently requires a 0.04 arcsecond error at 10 Hertz. Given the performance measured here, this specification can be delivered with a single star at 14 th to 18 th magnitude, depending on the passband.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is a proposed ground based telescope that will perform a comprehensive astronomical survey by imaging the entire visible sky in a continuous series of short exposures. Four special purpose rafts, mounted at the corners of the LSST science camera, contain wavefront sensors and guide sensors. Wavefront measurements are accomplished using curvature sensing, in which the spatial intensity distribution of stars is measured at equal distances on either side of focus by CCD detectors. The four Corner Rafts also each hold two guide sensors. The guide sensors monitor the locations of bright stars to provide feedback that controls and maintains the tracking of the telescope during an exposure. The baseline sensor for the guider is a Hybrid Visible Silicon hybrid-CMOS detector. We present here a conceptual mechanical and electrical design for the LSST Corner Rafts that meets the requirements imposed by the camera structure, and the precision of both the wavefront reconstruction and the tracking. We find that a single design can accommodate two guide sensors and one split-plane wavefront sensor integrated into the four corner locations in the camera.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) uses a novel, three-mirror, modified Paul-Baker design, with an 8.4-meter primary mirror, a 3.4-m secondary, and a 5.0-m tertiary feeding a refractive camera design with 3 lenses (0.69-1.55m) and a set of broadband filters/corrector lenses. Performance is excellent over a 9.6 square degree field and ultraviolet to near infrared wavelengths. We describe the image quality error budget analysis methodology which includes effects from optical and optomechanical considerations such as index inhomogeneity, fabrication and null-testing error, temperature gradients, gravity, pressure, stress, birefringence, and vibration.

Orbital collisions pose a hazard to space operations. Using a high performance computer modeling and simulation environment for space situational awareness, we explore a new paradigm for improving satellite conjunction analysis by obtaining more precise orbital information only for those objects that pose a collision risk greater than a defined threshold to a specific set of satellites during a specified time interval. In particular, we assess the improvement in the quality of the conjunction analysis that can be achieved using a distributed network of ground-based telescopes.

We describe results of retinal imaging with a novel instrument that combines adaptive optics - Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT) with an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AO-SLO). One of the benefits of combining Fd-OCT with SLO includes automatic co-registration between the two imaging modalities and the potential for correcting lateral and transversal eye motion resulting in motion artifact-free volumetric retinal imaging. Additionally this allows for direct comparison between retinal structures that can be imaged with both modalities (e.g., photoreceptor mosaics or microvasculature maps). This dual imaging modality could provide insight into some retinal properties that could not be accessed by a single imaging system. Additionally, extension of OCT and SLO beyond structural imaging may open new avenues for diagnostics and testing in ophthalmology. In particular, non-invasive vasculature mapping with these modalities holds promise of replacing fluorescein angiography in vascular identification. Several new improvements of our system are described, including results of testing a novel 97-actuator deformable mirror and AO-SLO light intensity modulation. © 2010 SPIE.

We describe a novel instrument that combines adaptive optics - Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT) with an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AO-SLO). Both systems share a common AO sub-system and vertical scanner to permit simultaneous acquisition of retinal images from both OCT and SLO. One of the benefits of combining OCT with SLO includes automatic co-registration between the two imaging modalities and potential for correcting lateral and transversal eye motion resulting in motion artifact-free volumetric retinal imaging. Results of using this system for eye model imaging are presented. Feasibility for clinical application is briefly discussed as well as potential further improvements of the current system.

Adaptive optics (AO) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) are powerful imaging modalities that, when combined, can provide high-resolution (3.5 μm isotropic), 3-D images of the retina. The AO-OCT system at UC Davis has demonstrated the utility of this technology for microscopic, volumetric, in vivo retinal imaging. The current system uses an AOptix bimorph deformable mirror (DM) for low-order, high-stroke correction and a 140-actuator Boston Micromachines DM for high-order correction. Developments to improve performance or functionality of the instrument are on-going. Based on previous work in system characterization we have focused on improved AO control. We present preliminary results and remaining challenges for a newly implemented Fourier transform reconstructor (FTR). The previously reported error budget analysis is also reviewed and updated, with consideration of how to improve both the amount of residual error and the robustness of the system. Careful characterization of the AO system will lead to improved performance and inform the design of future systems.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) uses a novel, three-mirror, modified Paul-Baker design, with an 8.4-meter primary mirror, a 3.4-m secondary, and a 5.0-m tertiary feeding a camera system that includes a set of broad-band filters and refractive corrector lenses to produce a flat focal plane with a field of view of 9.6 square degrees. Optical design of the camera lenses and filters is integrated with optical design of telescope mirrors to optimize performance, resulting in excellent image quality over the entire field from ultra-violet to near infra-red wavelengths. The LSST camera optics design consists of three refractive lenses with clear aperture diameters of 1.55 m, 1.10 m and 0.69 m and six interchangeable, broad-band, filters with clear aperture diameters of 0.75 m. We describe the methodology for fabricating, coating, mounting and testing these lenses and filters, and we present the results of detailed tolerance analyses, demonstrating that the camera optics will perform to the specifications required to meet their performance goals.

Adaptive optics (AO) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) are powerful imaging modalities that, when combined, can provide high-resolution, 3-D images of the retina. The AO-OCT system at UC Davis has been under development for 2 years and has demonstrated the utility of this technology for microscopic, volumetric, in vivo retinal imaging. The current system uses a bimorph deformable mirror (DM) made by AOptix Technologies, Inc. for low-order, high-stroke correction and a 140-actuator mirco-electrical-mechanical-system (MEMS) DM made by Boston Micromachines Corporation for high-order correction. We present our on-going characterization of AO system performance. The AO-OCT system typically has residual wavefront error of 100 nm rms. The correctable error in the system is dominated by low-order error that we believe is introduced by aliasing in the control loop. Careful characterization of the AO system will lead to improved performance and inform the design of future systems.

We describe a compact MEMS-based adaptive optics (AO) optical coherence tomography (OCT) system with improved AO performance and ease of clinical use. A typical AO system consists of a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor and a deformable mirror that measures and corrects the ocular and system aberrations. Because of limitations on current deformable mirror technologies, the amount of real-time ocular-aberration compensation is restricted and small in previous AO-OCT instruments. In this instrument, we incorporate an optical apparatus to correct the spectacle aberrations of the patients such as myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. This eliminates the tedious process of using trial lenses in clinical imaging. Different amount of spectacle aberration compensation was achieved by motorized stages and automated with the AO computer for ease of clinical use. In addition, the compact AO-OCT was optimized to have minimum system aberrations to reduce AO registration errors and improve AO performance.

Ultra-high isotropic resolution imaging of retinal structures was made possible with an adaptive optics system using dual deformable mirrors and a Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (Fd-OCT) system with correction for longitudinal chromatic aberration. This system was used to image microscopic retinal structures of healthy as well as diseased retinas in vivo. The improved resolution and contrast enhanced visualization of morphological structures in the retina can be clearly seen. The benefits of this instrument are apparent from comparison of new images with those acquired using a previous generation AO-OCT instrument. Big change in the appearance of speckle field (reduction in speckle size) can be observed as well. Additionally, further improvements in volumetric data acquisition and image representation will be discussed. This includes creation of large Field of View (FOV) AO-OCT volume from multiple sub-volumes and its visualization. Also techniques and results of reducing speckle contrast by averaging multiple B-scans will be presented.

Adaptive optics (AO) coupled with ultra-fast spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) has achieved the necessary 3D resolution, sensitivity, and speed for imaging the microscopic retina at the cellular level. While this technology has been rigorously applied to evaluating the 3D morphology of cone photoreceptors, similar detailed studies of cell-sized structures in the inner retina have yet to be undertaken. In this paper, we improve the technical performance of our AO ultrafast SD-OCT and investigate its use for imaging the microscopic inner retina, in particular the nerve fiber layer (NFL) and retinal capillary network. To maximize lateral resolution within the inner retina, focus was controlled with a high stroke, 37-actuator bimorph mirror (AOptix) that also served as the wavefront corrector of the AO. The AO system operated at a closed-loop rate of 25 Hz. The SD-OCT sub-system consisted of a superluminescent diode (l= 842 nm, Dl= 50 nm) and a 512 pixel line scan charge-coupled device (CCD) that acquired 72,000 A-scans/sec. Three different B-scan lengths (36, 60, and 120 A-scans/B-scan), which correspond to B-scan exposure durations of 0.5, 0.83, and 1.67 ms, were evaluated to determine the maximum B-scan length that could be tolerated without noticeable loss in image quality due to eye motion in the well fixated eye. Additional technical improvements included sub-pixel registration to remove instrument error and axial registration of the volume images. Small volume images were acquired at 2 and 7 degrees retinal eccentricity with focus systematically shifted through the retina. Small capillaries, some approaching the smallest in the human eye, were readily detected with AO SD-OCT. Appearance of the nerve fiber layer varied noticeably with depth. The most inner portion (presumably the inner limiting membrane) appeared as a thin irregular surface with little characteristic speckle noise. Within the NFL, complex striation patterns (presumably NFL bundles) were observed throughout the entire thickness with pattern density highest in the inner portion (~15 mm) and large corrugations (~35 mm) at the interface with the ganglion cell layer below. Speckle noise was significant throughout the NFL.

Ultrahigh axial resolution in adaptive optics - optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT) is fundamentally limited by the intrinsic chromatic aberrations of the human eye. Variation in refractive index of the ocular media with wavelength causes the spectral content of broadband light sources to focus at different depths in the retina for light entering the eye and at the imaging detector for light exiting. This effect has not been previously reported for ultrahigh-resolution OCT (without AO) likely because the effect is masked by the relatively long depth of focus dictated by the small pupils used in these systems. With AO, the pupil size is much larger and depth of focus substantially narrower. As such the chromatic aberrations of the eye can counteract the lateral resolution benefit of AO when used with broadband light sources. To more fully tap the potential of AO-OCT, compensation of the eye's chromatic and monochromatic aberrations must occur concurrently. One solution is to insert an achromatizing lens in front of the eye whose chromatic aberrations are equal but opposite in sign to that of the eye. In this paper we evaluate the efficacy of a novel design that uses a custom achromatizing lens placed near the fiber collimating optic. AO-OCT images are acquired on several subjects with and without the achromatizing lens and in combination with two light sources of different spectral width. The combination of the achromatizing lens and broadband light source yielded the sharpest images of the retina and the smallest speckle.

Two deformable mirrors (2DM) were used in an adaptive optics - optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT) system to image in vivo microscopic retinal structures of healthy and diseased retinas. As a result, multiple morphological structures not previously seen in vivo have been visualized. Among those presented are three-dimensional representations of the fovea and optic nerve head (ONH), revealing cellular structures and micro-vasculature. Drusen in macular degeneration and photoreceptor dystrophies are also presented. Different methods for displaying volumetric AO-OCT data to facilitate visualization of certain morphological details are compared.

Scanning laser ophthalmoscopes with adaptive optics (AOSLO) have been shown previously to provide a noninvasive, cellular-scale view of the living human retina. However, the clinical utility of these systems has been limited by the available deformable mirror technology. In this paper, we demonstrate that the use of dual deformable mirrors can effectively compensate large aberrations in the human retina, making the AOSLO system a viable, non-invasive, high-resolution imaging tool for clinical diagnostics. We used a bimorph deformable mirror to correct low-order aberrations with relatively large amplitudes. The bimorph mirror is manufactured by Aoptix, Inc. with 37 elements and 18 mm stroke in a 10 mm aperture. We used a MEMS deformable mirror to correct high-order aberrations with lower amplitudes. The MEMS mirror is manufactured by Boston Micromachine, Inc with 144 elements and 1.5 mm stroke in a 3 mm aperture. We have achieved near diffraction-limited retina images using the dual deformable mirrors to correct large aberrations up to ±3D of defocus and ±3D of cylindrical aberrations with test subjects. This increases the range of spectacle corrections by the AO systems by a factor of 10, which is crucial for use in the clinical environment. This ability for large phase compensation can eliminate accurate refractive error fitting for the patients, which greatly improves the system ease of use and efficiency in the clinical environment.

A high-stroke micromirror array was designed, modeled, fabricated and tested. Each pixel in the 4x4 array consists of a self-aligned vertical comb drive actuator that has had a single-crystal silicon mirror successfully bonded to it. Two different bonding technologies were used, photoresist bonding and fusion bonding. The results of each of these bonding methods will be presented. Analytical models combined w ith CoventorWare® simulations were used to design these elements that would move up to 10 mi crons in piston motion with 200V applied. Devices were fabricated according to this design and difference measurements performed with a white-light interferometer demonstrated a displacement of 0.18 microns with 200V applied. Further investigation reveal ed that fabrication process in accuracy led to significantly stiffer mechanical springs in the fabri cated devices. The increased stiffness of the springs was shown to account for the reduced displacement that was observed. Keywords: Adaptive optics, wavefront correction, micromechanical mirror device, piston-type mirror elements, comb drive actuators, large displacement micromirrors, sp atial light modulator, surface micromachining, MOEMS

The Solid-State, Heat-Capacity Laser (SSHCL) program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a multi-generation laser development effort scalable to the megawatt power levels with current performance approaching 100 kilowatts. This program is one of many designed to harness the power of lasers for use as directed energy weapons. There are many hurdles common to all of these programs that must be overcome to make the technology viable. There will be a in-depth discussion of the general issues facing state-of-the-art high energy lasers and paths to their resolution. Despite the relative simplicity of the SSHCL design, many challenges have been uncovered in the implementation of this particular system. An overview of these and their resolution are discussed. The overall system design of the SSHCL, technological strengths and weaknesses, and most recent experimental results will be presented.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is a unique, three-mirror, modified Paul-Baker design with an 8.4m primary, a 3.4m secondary, and a 5.0m tertiary feeding a camera system that includes corrector optics to produce a 3.5 degree field of view with excellent image quality (

We are developing a new class of deformable optic based on electrostatic actuation of nanolaminate foils. These foils are engineered at the atomic level to provide optimal opto-mechanical properties, including surface quality, strength and stiffness, for a wide range of deformable optics. We are combining these foils, developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), with commercial metal processing techniques to produce prototype deformable optics with aperture sizes up to 10 cm and actuator spacing from 1 mm to 1 cm and with a range of surface deformation designed to be as much as 10 microns. The existing capability for producing nanolaminate foils at LLNL, coupled with the commercial metal processing techniques being used, enable the potential production of these deformable optics with aperture sizes of over 1 m, and much larger deformable optics could potentially be produced by tiling multiple deformable segments. In addition, based on the fabrication processes being used, deformable nanolaminate optics could potentially be produced with areal densities of less than 1 kg per square m for applications in which lightweight deformable optics are desirable, and deformable nanolaminate optics could potentially be fabricated with intrinsically curved surfaces, including aspheric shapes. We will describe the basic principles of these devices, and we will present details of the design, fabrication and characterization of the prototype deformable nanolaminate optics that have been developed to date. We will also discuss the possibilities for future work on scaling these devices to larger sizes and developing both devices with lower areal densities and devices with curved surfaces.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is a three mirror modified Paul-Baker design with an 8.4m primary, a 3.4m secondary, and a 5.0m tertiary followed by a 3-element refractive corrector producing a 3.5 degree field of view. This design produces image diameters of

Adaptive Optics - Optical Coherence Tomography (AO-OCT) has demonstrated a promising improvement in lateral resolution for retinal imaging compared to standard OCT. Recent developments in Fourier-domain OCT technology allow AO-OCT instruments to acquire three-dimensional (3D) retinal structures with high speed and high "volumetric" resolution (in all three dimensions). One of the most important factors (besides acquisition speed) that will determine the true potential of this technique is its ability to achieve diffraction-limited lateral resolution (~3 μm) while operating in the ultrahigh axial resolution range (~3 μm) offered by OCT. Theoretical studies have shown that the eye's chromatic aberrations may drastically reduce volumetric resolution. This is a critical finding because for "standard" stand alone ultrahigh OCT, increasing the spectral bandwidth of the light source improves axial resolution without compromising lateral resolution. To study the effects of spectral bandwidth on AO-OCT systems for retinal imaging two different light sources offering 6 and 3 μm axial resolution were tested. This comparison was based on both AO correcting system performance as well as the quality of corresponding OCT images.

We have demonstrated that a microelectrical mechanical systems (MEMS) deformable mirror can be flattened to < 1 nm RMS within controllable spatial frequencies over a 9.2-mm aperture making it a viable option for high-contrast adaptive optics systems (also known as Extreme Adaptive Optics). The Extreme Adaptive Optics Testbed at UC Santa Cruz is being used to investigate and develop technologies for high-contrast imaging, especially wavefront control. A phase shifting diffraction interferometer (PSDI) measures wavefront errors with sub-nm precision and accuracy for metrology and wavefront control. Consistent flattening, required testing and characterization of the individual actuator response, including the effects of dead and low-response actuators. Stability and repeatability of the MEMS devices was also tested. An error budget for MEMS closed loop performance will summarize MEMS characterization.

This work concerns the development of a technology that uses Nanolaminate foils to form light-weight, deformable mirrors that are scalable over a wide range of mirror sizes. While MEMS-based deformable mirrors and spatial light modulators have considerably reduced the cost and increased the capabilities of adaptive optic systems, there has not been a way to utilize the advantages of lithography and batch-fabrication to produce large-scale deformable mirrors. This technology is made scalable by using fabrication techniques and lithography that are not limited to the sizes of conventional MEMS devices. Like many MEMS devices, these mirrors use parallel plate electrostatic actuators. This technology replicates that functionality by suspending a horizontal piece of nanolaminate foil over an electrode by electroplated nickel posts. This actuator is attached, with another post, to another nanolaminate foil that acts as the mirror surface. Most MEMS devices are produced with integrated circuit lithography techniques that are capable of very small line widths, but are not scalable to large sizes. This technology is very tolerant of lithography errors and can use coarser, printed circuit board lithography techniques that can be scaled to very large sizes. These mirrors use small, lithographically defined actuators and thin nanolaminate foils allowing them to produce deformations over a large area while minimizing weight. This paper will describe a staged program to develop this technology. First-principles models were developed to determine design parameters. Three stages of fabrication will be described starting with a 3x3 device using conventional metal foils and epoxy to a 10-across all-metal device with nanolaminate mirror surfaces.

This ongoing work concerns the creation of a deformable mirror by the integration of MEMS actuators with Nanolaminate foils through metal compression boning. These mirrors will use the advantages of these disparate technologies to achieve dense actuation of a high-quality, continuous mirror surface. They will enable advanced adaptive optics systems in large terrestrial telescopes. While MEMS actuators provide very dense actuation with high precision they can not provide large forces typically necessary to deform conventional mirror surfaces. Nanolaminate foils can be fabricated with very high surface quality while their extraordinary mechanical properties enable very thin, flexible foils to survive the rigors of fabrication. Precise metal compression bonding allows the attachment of the fragile MEMS actuators to the thin nanolaminate foils without creating distortions at the bond sites. This paper will describe work in four major areas: 1) modeling and design, 2) bonding development, 3) nanolaminate foil development, 4) producing a prototype. A first-principles analytical model was created and used to determine the design parameters. A method of bonding was determined that is both strong, and minimizes the localized deformation or print through. Work has also been done to produce nanolaminate foils that are sufficiently thin, flexible and flat to be deformed by the MEMS actuators. Finally a prototype was produced by bonding thin, flexible nanolaminate foils to commercially available MEMS actuators.

A high-stroke micro-actuator array was designed, modeled, fabricated and tested. Each pixel in the 4x4 array consists of a self-aligned vertical comb drive actuator. This micro-actuator array was designed to become the foundation of a micro-mirror array that will be used as a deformable mirror for adaptive optics applications. Analytical models combined with CoventorWare{reg_sign} simulations were used to design actuators that would move up to 10{micro}m in piston motion with 100V applied. Devices were fabricated according to this design and testing of these devices demonstrated an actuator displacement of 1.4{micro}m with 200V applied. Further investigation revealed that fabrication process inaccuracy led to significantly stiffer mechanical springs in the fabricated devices. The increased stiffness of the springs was shown to account for the reduced displacement of the actuators relative to the design.

A design for a high-resolution scanning instrument is presented for in vivo imaging of the human eye at the cellular scale. This system combines adaptive optics technology with a scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO) to image structures with high lateral (~2 μm) resolution. In this system, the ocular wavefront aberrations that reduce the resolution of conventional SLOs are detected by a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor, and compensated with two deformable mirrors in a closed-loop for dynamic correction and feedback control. A laser beam is scanned across the retina and the reflected light is captured by a photodiode, yielding a two-dimensional image of the retina at any depth. The quantity of back-scattered light from the retina is small (0.001% of reflection) and requires the elimination of all parasite reflections. As an in vivo measurement, faint cellular reflections must be detected with a low-energy source, a supraluminescent laser diode, and with brief exposures to avoid artifacts from eye movements. The current design attempts to optimize trade-offs between improved wavefront measurement and compensation of the optical aberrations by fractioning the light coming to the wavefront sensor, better sensitivity by increasing the input light energy or the exposure time and the response speed of the system. This instrument design is expected to provide sufficient resolution for visualizing photoreceptors and ganglion cells, and therefore, may be useful in diagnosing and monitoring the progression of retinal pathologies such as glaucoma or aged-related macular degeneration.

"Extreme" adaptive optics systems are optimized for ultra-high contrast applications, such as ground-based extrasolar planet detection. The Extreme Adaptive Optics Testbed at UC Santa Cruz is being used to investigate and develop technologies for high-contrast imaging, especially wavefront control. We use a simple optical design to minimize wavefront error and maximize the experimentally achievable contrast. A phase shifting diffraction interferometer (PSDI) measures wavefront errors with sub-nm precision and accuracy for metrology and wavefront control. Previously, we have demonstrated RMS wavefront errors of 10 7 over a substantial region using a shaped pupil without a deformable mirror. Current work includes the installation and characterization of a 1024-actuator Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) deformable mirror, manufactured by Boston Micro-Machines for active wavefront control. Using the PSDI as the wavefront sensor we have flattened the deformable mirror to 10 6 . Consistent flattening required testing and characterization of the individual actuator response, including the effects of dead and low-response actuators. Stability and repeatability of the MEMS devices was also tested. Ultimately this testbed will be used to test all aspects of the system architecture for an extrasolar planet-finding AO system.

'Extreme' adaptive optics systems are optimized for ultra-high-contrast applications, such as ground-based extrasolar planet detection. The Extreme Adaptive Optics Testbed at UC Santa Cruz is being used to investigate and develop technologies for high-contrast imaging, especially wavefront control. A simple optical design allows us to minimize wavefront error and maximize the experimentally achievable contrast before progressing to a more complex set-up. A phase shifting diffraction interferometer is used to measure wavefront errors with sub-nm precision and accuracy. We have demonstrated RMS wavefront errors of 10{sup -7} over a substantial region using a shaped pupil. Current work includes the installation and characterization of a 1024-actuator Micro-Electro-Mechanical- Systems (MEMS) deformable mirror, manufactured by Boston Micro-Machines, which will be used for wavefront control. In our initial experiments we can flatten the deformable mirror to 1.8-nm RMS wavefront error within a control radius of 5-13 cycles per aperture. Ultimately this testbed will be used to test all aspects of the system architecture for an extrasolar planet-finding AO system.

The Extrasolar Planetary Imaging Coronagraph (EPIC) is a proposed NASA Discovery mission to image and characterize extrasolar giant planets in orbits with semi-major axes between 2 and 10 AU. EPIC will provide insights into the physical nature of a variety of planets in other solar systems complimenting radial velocity (RV) and astrometric planet searches. It will detect and characterize the atmospheres of planets identified by radial velocity surveys, determine orbital inclinations and masses, characterize the atmospheres around A and F type stars which cannot be found with RV techniques, and observe the inner spatial structure and colors of debris disks. EPIC has a proposed launch date of 2012 to heliocentric Earth trailing drift-away orbit, with a 3 year mission lifetime (5 year goal), and will revisit planets at least three times at intervals of 9 months. The robust mission design is simple and flexible ensuring mission success while minimizing cost and risk. The science payload consists of a heritage optical telescope assembly (OTA), and visible nulling coronagraph (VNC) instrument. The instrument achieves a contrast ratio of 109 over a 4.84 arcsecond field-of-view with an unprecedented inner working angle of 0.14 arcseconds over the spectral range of 440-880 nm, with spectral resolutions from 10 - 150. The telescope is a 1.5 meter offaxis Cassegrain with an OTA wavefront error of λ/9, which when coupled to the VNC greatly reduces the requirements on the large scale optics, compressing them to stability requirements within the relatively compact VNC optical chain. The VNC features two integrated modular nullers, a spatial filter array (SFA), and an E2V-L3 photon counting CCD. Direct null control is accomplished from the science focal mitigating against complex wavefront and amplitude sensing and control strategies.

This article investigates the use of a multi-conjugate adaptive optics system to improve the field-of-view for the system. The emphasis of this research is to develop techniques to improve the performance of optical systems with applications to horizontal imaging. The design and wave optics simulations of the proposed system are given. Preliminary results from the multi-conjugate adaptive optics system are also presented. The experimental system utilizes a liquid-crystal spatial light modulator and an interferometric wave-front sensor for correction and sensing of the phase aberrations, respectively.

Horizontal path correction of optical beam propagation presents a severe challenge to adaptive optics systems due to the short transverse coherence length and the high degree of scintillation incurred by propagation along these paths. The system presented operates with nearly monochromatic light. It does not require a global reconstruction of the phase, thereby eliminating issues with branch points and making its performance relatively unaffected by scintillation. The systems pixel count, 1024, and relatively high correction speed, in excess of 800 Hz, enable its use for correction of horizontal path beam propagation. We present results from laboratory and field tests of the system in which we have achieved Strehl ratios greater than 0.5.

Adaptive optics (AO), a mature technology developed for astronomy to compensate for the effects of atmospheric turbulence, can also be used to correct the aberrations of the eye. The classic phoropter is used by ophthalmologists and optometrists to estimate and correct the lower-order aberrations of the eye, defocus and astigmatism, in order to derive a vision correction prescription for their patients. An adaptive optics phoropter measures and corrects the aberrations in the human eye using adaptive optics techniques, which are capable of dealing with both the standard low-order aberrations and higher-order aberrations, including coma and spherical aberration. High-order aberrations have been shown to degrade visual performance for clinical subjects in initial investigations. An adaptive optics phoropter has been designed and constructed based on a Shack-Hartmann sensor to measure the aberrations of the eye, and a liquid crystal spatial light modulator to compensate for them. This system should produce near diffraction-limited optical image quality at the retina, which will enable investigation of the psychophysical limits of human vision. This paper describes the characterization and operation of the AO phoropter with results from human subject testing.

Adaptive optics can be used to correct the aberrations in the human eye caused by imperfections in the cornea and the lens and thereby, improve image quality both looking into and out of the eye. Under the auspices of the NSF Center for Adaptive Optics and the DOE Biomedical Engineering Program, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has joined together with leading vision science researchers around the country to develop and test new ophthalmic imaging systems using novel wavefront corrector technologies. Results of preliminary comparative evaluations of these technologies in initial system tests show promise for future clinical utility.© (2003) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Detecting life-bearing Earth-like planets (ELPs) is one of NASA's highest priority goals. In this paper we derive the wave-front requirements for optical detection of ELPs with an 8-m space telescope and coronagraph. We will present detailed simulations that show that an 8-m coronagraphic space telescope can detect Earth-sized planets around nearby stars, provided that the wavefront at the detector is corrected to an RMS error of ~λ/3000. We use the derived wavefront error to set requirements for a deformable mirror based on micro-electro-mechanical systems technology.

The Lick Observatory laser guide star adaptive optics system has undergone continual improvement and testing as it is being integrated as a facility science instrument on the Shane 3 meter telescope. Both Natural Guide Star (NGS) and Laser Guide Star (LGS) modes are now used in science observing programs. We report on system performance results as derived from data taken on both science and engineering nights and also describe the newly developed on-line techniques for seeing and system performance characterization. We also describe the future enhancements to the Lick system that will enable additional science goals such as long-exposure spectroscopy.

The National Science Foundation Center for Adaptive Optics (CfAO) is coordinating a program for the development of spatial light modulators suitable for adaptive optics applications based on micro-optoelectromechanical systems (MOEMS) technology. This collaborative program is being conducted by researchers at several partner institutions including the Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center, Boston Micromachines, Boston University, Lucent Technologies, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The goal of this program is to produce MEMS spatial light modulators with several thousand actuators that can be used for high-resolution wavefront control applications that would benefit from low device cost, small system size, and low power requirements. The two primary applications targeted by the CfAO are astronomy and vision science. In this paper, we present an overview of the CfAO MEMS development plan along with details of the current program status.

We introduce a wave-optics based simulation code written to model a complete free space laser communications link, including a detailed model of an adaptive optics compensation system. We present the results obtained by this model, where the phase of a communications laser beam is corrected, after it propagates through a turbulent atmosphere. The phase of the received laser beam is measured using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, and the correction method utilizes a MEMS mirror. Strehl improvement and amount of power coupled to the receiving fiber results for both 1 km horizontal and 28 km slant paths will be presented.

The NSF Center for Adaptive Optics (CfAO) is supporting research on advanced adaptive optics technologies. CfAO research activities include development and characterization of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) deformable mirror (DM) technology, as well as development and characterization of high-resolution adaptive optics systems using liquid crystal (LC) spatial light modulator (SLM) technology. This paper presents an overview of the CfAO advanced adaptive optics technology development activities including current status and future plans.

Direct detection of photons emitted or reflected by an extrasolar planet is an extremely difficult but extremely exciting application of adaptive optics. Typical contrast levels for an extrasolar planet would be 109 - Jupiter is a billion times fainter than the sun. Current adaptive optics systems can only achieve contrast levels of 106, but so-called extreme adaptive optics systems with 104 -105 degrees of freedom could potentially detect extrasolar planets. We explore the scaling laws defining the performance of these systems, first set out by Angel (1994), and derive a different definition of an optimal system. Our sensitivity predictions are somewhat more pessimistic than the original paper, due largely to slow decorrelation timescales for some noise sources, though choosing to site an ExAO system at a location with exceptional r0 (e.g. Mauna Kea) can offset this. We also explore the effects of segment aberrations in a Keck-like telescope on ExAO; although the effects are significant, they can be mitigated through Lyot coronagraphy.© (2002) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

While the theory behind design of multiconjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) systems is growing, there is still a paucity of experience building and testing such instruments. We propose using the Lick adaptive optics (AO) system as a basis for demonstrating the feasibility/workability of MCAO systems, testing underlying assumptions, and experimenting with different approaches to solving MCAO system issues.