Abstract

To obtain, at optical frequencies, even crude images of some stars of most spectral types an instrument of several hundred metres in diameter is required [1]. A single optical telescope of this diameter is unlikely to be constructed in the foreseeable future, either on the ground or in space. Thus to obtain images of the surfaces of a significant number of stars other than the sun an interferometric instrument, consisting of several separate telescopes, will need to be used. The processes by means of which an image may be synthesized from such an instrument have been reviewed recently [2]. Here the use of adaptive optics to improve the sensitivity of such an array will be considered.

© 1992 Optical Society of America