FREQUENCY-DOMAIN ANALYSIS OF AN ADAPTIVE OPTICAL-SYSTEMS TEMPORAL RESPONSE

Although analyses general enough to account for both the temporal and spatial characteristics of the adaptive optical system exist, they are complex and require detailed information regarding the wavefront sens or, the deformable mirror, and the control algorithm. This investigati on develops a frequency-domain analysis that predicts the performance of an adaptive optical system having an arbitrary temporal response. T he analysis takes into account aperture piston and tilt removal and sp atial bandwidth limitations due to the wavefront sensor's finite subap erture size and the deformable mirror's finite actuator spacing. The u nique aspect of this model is the relative ease with which performance characteristics of different spatial and temporal system response fun ctions can be investigated.