Anisoplanatism in adaptive optics systems due to pupil aberrations

摘要

Adaptive optics systems typically include an optical relay that simultaneously images the science field to be corrected and also a set of pupil planes conjugate to the deformable mirror of the system. Often, in the optical spaces where DM's are placed, the pupils are aberrated, leading to a displacement and/or distortion of the pupil that varies according to field position—producing a type of anisoplanatism, i.e., a degradation of the AO correction with field angle. The pupil aberration phenomenon is described and expressed in terms of Seidel aberrations. An expression for anisoplanatism as a function of pupil distortion is derived, an example of an off-axis parabola is given, and a convenient method for controlling pupil-aberration-generated anisoplanatism is proposed.