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To realize the large-scale and high-precision co-phasing adjustment of synthetic-aperture telescopes, we propose a multichannel left-subtract-right feature vector piston error detection method based on a convolutional neural network, which inherits the high precision and strong noise resistance of the DFA-LSR method while achieving a detection range of (−139λ, 139λ) (λ = 720 nm). In addition, a scheme to build large training datasets was proposed to solve the difficulty in collecting datasets using traditional neural network methods. Finally, simulations verified that this method can guarantee at least 94.96% accuracy with large samples, obtaining a root mean square error of 10.2 nm when the signal-to-noise ratio is 15.

A cycloid-like variable curvature mirror (VCM) for zoom-imaging systems was investigated. An analytical-deformation solution to a thin-elastic plate with a cycloid-like thickness distribution and simply supported boundary condition under uniform pressure was found using a small parameter method. The finite-element analysis of the thin-elastic plate and designed VCM showed a good correlation with the analytical solution. The VCM was manufactured and polished to the initial shape with a root mean square (RMS) of 1/80λ. Finally, with air-pressure-based actuation testing under 0.07 MPa, the VCM deforms approximately 36.89 µm and maintains the RMS surface performance of 1/10λ, 1/40λ with and without spherical aberrations, respectively.

Super-resolution image reconstruction is a process to reconstruct high-resolution images from shifted, low-resolution, degraded observations. In the last two decades, a variety of super-resolution methods have been proposed. These methods are usually very sensitive to their assumed model of data and noise, which limits their utility. This paper reviews some of these methods and addresses their shortcomings. We propose an alternate approach using 1norm minimization and robust regularization based on a bilateral prior to deal with different data and noise models. This computationally inexpensive method is robust to errors in motion and blur estimation and results in images with sharp edges. Experimental results confirm the effectiveness of our method and demonstrate its superiority to other super-resolution methods. © 2017 SPIE.

In recent years, a novel optical zooming technique has been paid much attention. With the help of optical leveraging effect, it is possible to alter the system focal length dramatically without moving elements involved in by only changing the curvature radius of VCM (variable curvature mirror) slightly. With no doubt, VCM is the key to realize non-moving element optical zooming and it has to provide large enough saggitus variation while still maintaining the high surface figure accuracy to ensure high quality imaging. In our previously published paper, an annular force based VCM has been designed, fabricated and tested. Experiments demonstrate that with the aperture of 100mm and thickness of 2mm, the VCM could generate a large saggitus variation exceeding 30λ (λ=632.8nm). However, the optical quality degrades very fast and this makes such a VCM unsuitable for optical imaging in visible band. Therefore in this manuscript, a multipoint actuation array, which is composed of totally 49 piezoelectric actuators, is embedded into the annular structure to aim to correct the surface figure distortion caused by large saggitus variation. The new structure model has been designed and numerical simulation indicates that the surface figure distortion could be well corrected as long as the degraded surface figure accuracy is better than 1.8λ (λ=632.8nm) (RMS). Based on this, a new prototype VCM is being fabricated and intermediate results are reported here.

Ultra-low phase noise microwave signals can be generated by photodetecting the train of pulses of an optical frequency comb locked to an ultrastable continuous laser reference. However the photodetection process itself is accompanied by some noise that is limiting the performance of this technique. We present how we overcome these limitations and combine different methods to generate, detect and characterize the lowest absolute phase noise microwave signal to date.

Recently, a new kind of optical zooming technique in which no moving elements are involved has been paid much attention. The elimination of moving elements makes optical zooming suitable for applications which has exacting requirements in space, power cost and system stability. The mobile phone and the space-borne camera are two typical examples. The key to realize non-moving elements optical zooming lies in the introduction of variable curvature mirror (VCM) whose radius of curvature could be changed dynamically. When VCM is about to be used to implement optical zoom imaging, two characteristics should be ensured. First, VCM has to provide large enough saggitus variation in order to obtain a big magnification ratio. Second, after the radius of curvature has been changed, the corresponding surface figure accuracy should still be maintained superior to a threshold level to make the high quality imaging possible. In this manuscript, based on the elasticity theory, the physical model of the annular force based variable curvature mirror is established and numerically analyzed. The results demonstrate that when the annular force is applied at the half-the-aperture position, the actuation force is reduced and a smaller actuation force is required to generate the saggitus variation and thus the maintenance of surface figure accuracy becomes easier during the variation of radius of curvature. Besides that, a prototype VCM, whose diameter and thickness are 100mm and 3mm respectively, have been fabricated and the maximum saggitus variation that could be obtained approaches more than 30 wavelengths. At the same time, the degradation of surface figure accuracy is weakly correlated to the curvature radius variation. Keywords: optical zooming; variable curvature mirror; surface figure accuracy; saggitus

Joint transform correlator (JTC) is a highly efficient way to measure image motion and a hybrid opto-digital JTC (HODJTC) has been proposed by us in [CHIN. OPT. LETT., Vol. 8, No. 8]. Being different from the traditional JTC, only one optical Fourier transform is needed and the optically generated joint power spectrum (JPS) is used to compute the image motion in a digital way. Although a high measurement precision can be obtained through HODJTC, the defocus will counteract the final result. In this paper, the influence of defocus is analyzed and an improved HODJTC, whose sensitiveness to defocus is reduced, is proposed. By introducing randomly generated defocus, a series of cross-correlation peak images is obtained and a subsequent spatial averaging procedure is applied to these images to generate the final cross-peak image which is used to compute the defocus invariant motion value.

Variable curvature mirror (VCM) is a simplified active optical component being capable of changing its curvature radius. Curvature radius variation within a wide range requires that the VCM should be able to generate a large saggitus variation. Besides that, the surface form accuracy should be maintained above a reasonable level. In this paper, a piezoelectric actuation based prototype VCM is designed, constructed and experimentally tested. The thickness of the K9 plane mirror is only 3mm over the full aperture of 100mm. Six piezoelectric actuators are fixed into a base plate and the head of each actuator is connected to an annular ring through the screw thread. With such a structure, the force provided by each actuator can be transformed to the mirror backside through this annular ring. With each actuator generating the same force, the curvature radius can be changed in a uniform way. At the mean time, the surface form accuracy could be adjusted one point by point to compensation asymmetric modes as well. Mathematical analysis and FEA (finite element analysis) are used together to demonstrate the theoretical correctness. Besides that, the prototype VCM is successfully constructed and experiments have been carried out to give a quantitative assessment on the saggitus variation..

The key to realize non-moving-element optical zooming lies in VCM (variable curvature mirror). In order to obtain a large optical magnification, VCM should be capable of providing a large center deflection and this requires that the mirror material should be robust enough, require less force to deform and have a high ultimate strength. In this paper, CFRP (carbon-fiber-reinforced-polymer) is selected as the mirror material and a prototype VCM has been fabricated. With diameter of 100mm, thickness of 2mm and initial curvature radius of 1740mm, this VCM can provide a center deflection approaching nearly 23um, which proves the feasibility of CFRP in constructing VCM. Compared with the work reported in [Proc. of SPIE, 8725, 87250W, 2013], the center deflection obtained here becomes even larger.