1.5-m flat imaging system aligned and phased in real time
Zongliang Xie, Kaiyuan Yang, Yang Liu, Tianrong Xu, Botao Chen, Xiafei Ma, Yong Ruan, Haotong Ma, Junfeng Du, Jiang Bian, Dun Liu, Lihua Wang, Tao Tang, Jiawei Yuan, Ge Ren, Bo Qi, Yang Hu
Abstract
Flat optics has been considered promising for constructions of spaceborne imaging systems with apertures in excess of 10 m. Despite recent advances, there are long-existing challenges to perform in-phase stitching of multiple flat optical elements. Phasing the segmented planar instrument has remained at the proof of concept. Here, we achieve autonomous system-level cophasing of a 1.5-m stitching flat device, bridging the gap between the concept and engineering implementation. To do so, we propose a flat element stitching scheme, by manipulating the point spread function, which enables our demonstration of automatically bringing seven flat segments’ tip/tilt and piston errors within the tolerance. With phasing done, the 1.5-m system has become the largest phased planar instrument ever built in the world, to our knowledge. The first demonstration of phasing the large practical flat imaging system marks a significant step towards fielding a 10-m class one in space, also paving the way for ultrathin flat imaging in various remote applications.