Abstract

Although there have been recent advances in the design and manufacture of large, single-aperture telescopes, the problems and costs involved are formidable enough that imaging interferometer arrays are being developed for such demanding missions as direct detection of extrasolar planets1. Studies of AO-compensated interferometry have been accomplished both with computer simulations2 and approximate analysis3. These studies have shown that even partial wavefront compensation can dramatically improve the limiting magnitude observable by the array. Here, an analysis of AO design for partially-compensating systems is presented. The method here is identical to that used by Angel1, but 1.) more detail is provided, such as treatment of read noise and allowance for different AO and imaging wavelengths, and 2.) the dependence of control-loop bandwidth requirements on degree of AO compensation is accounted for.

© 1996 Optical Society of America