Adaptive Optics System Based on a Compact Liquid Crystal Wavefront Corrector

In state-of-the-art adaptive optics systems, the wavefront correctors are bulky and expensive, and moving parts limit signal-to-noise ratio and speed. Current liquid crystal phase correctors require polarizers, reducing overall efficiency to less than 50%.Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a novel, compact, lightweight low voltage adaptive optics system based on a unique compact pair of liquid crystal element arrays. The proposed system will consist of a wavefront sensor, the pair of compact liquid crystal wavefront corrector element arrays, driving electronics, and a feedback subsystem. Each corrector consists of a liquid crystal microlens array and a simple liquid crystal phase only spatial light modulator. They will correct the wavefront tilt and piston distortion with high fidelity and at high speed, without any additional polarizer or moving parts. It will be all the more commercially attractive because it can be manufactured using low-cost materials and fabrication techniques already well developed for liquid crystal. In Phase I, a laboratory prototype system will be designed and its performance analyzed, and the concept will be characterized by means of experimental demonstrations.