Volumetric Wavefront Sensing for the Characterization of Distributed-Volume Aberrations

Modern Directed Energy (DE) missions require target engagements at low elevation angles and long ranges.These engagement geometries require propagation through distributed-volume turbulence. To correct for distributed-volume turbulence effects, an estimation of the turbulence along the propagation path is required. Correcting for these image aberrations will improve the quality of the target image, allowing for faster and more accurate target identification. Guidestar Optical Systems, Inc. proposes to team with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to develop a holographic imaging system that generates a volumetric estimate of the distributed turbulence phase aberrations.Our team will exploit methods developed recently at UCLA for adaptive identification, prediction, and control of optical wavefronts. These techniques will be integrated with novel methods for digital holography and image sharpening approaches in ways that are optimal for real time predictive dynamic schemes.The research will employ control-theoretic methods to analyze and optimize the nonlinear interaction between wavefront prediction and image sharpening, with the ultimate objective of optimizing the convergence of the coupled wavefront prediction and image sharpening and minimizing the effects of sensor noise, speckle, and other disturbances.