PHASED ARRAY IMAGING TELESCOPE

OPTICAL DESIGNS OF TWO CONCEPTS FOR WIDE FIELD, HIGH RESOLUTION PHASED ARRAY IMAGING TELESCOPES WILL BE DEVELOPED AND ANALYZED. THE RESULTS WILL THEN BE COMPARED TO FIND THE SUPERIOR CONCEPT. THE FIRST CONCEPT RESEMBLES CLOSELY THE SYSTEMS PROPOSED IN THE PAST FOR ASTRONOMICAL SPACE TELESCOPES. IT CONSISTS OF AN ARRAY OF AFOCAL SUBTELESCOPES WHOSE EXISTING BEAMS ARE OPTICALLY COMBINED TO FORM A UNITED IMAGE WITH A THEORETICAL RESOLUTION APPROACHING THE DIFFRACTION LIMIT OF AN APETURE DIAMETER THAT IS EQUAL TO THE LONGEST DISTANCE BETWEEN THE TELESCOPES. IN DIFFERENCE TO THE PREVIOUS SYSTEMS THE NEW SYSTEM MUST OPERATE OVER A WIDE FIELD OF VIEW WHICH ADDS A SIGNIFICANT DEGREE OF COMPLEXITY TO THE DESIGN OF BOTH, THE SUBTELESCOPES AND THE COMBINING TELESCOPE. THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUITABLE TELESCOPE DESIGNS WILL, THEREFORE, BE THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE PROPOSED EFFORT. THE SECOND IDEA IS BASED UPON THE CONCEPT OF A LARGE TELESCOPE WITH A PARTIALLY FILLED APERTURE. THE FACT THAT ALL OPTICAL COMPONENTS ARE COAXIAL SIMPLIFIES THE CONCEPT, AND GREATLY INCREASES THE CORRECTIBILITY. DIFFICULTIES ARE EXPECTED IN THE AREAS OF ALIGNMENT AND SURFACE GENERATION.