Wave-optics sampling constraints in the presence of speckle and anisoplanatism

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

1-1-2021

Abstract

This effort characterizes proper sampling of laser speckle in wave-optics simulations, with an emphasis on active imagers in outdoor environments. Modeling of performance degradations induced by speckle is critical in the design of such devices. We expose tradeoffs between sampling conditions in multiple planes of interest, namely the object, pupil and focal planes of an imaging system. The goal of our analysis is to develop an optimized numerical tradespace that models the underlying physics of speckle and turbulence with high fidelity. We begin by showing that speckle statistics are relatively straightforward to produce in the case of vacuum propagation. Then by propagating through different strengths of turbulence, we demonstrate how sampling requirements can become much more difficult to satisfy. We pay particular attention to the problem of sufficiently sampling a target object without subjecting it to anisoplanatism. As a way of overcoming such challenges, we propose and test an optimization routine that defines acceptable simulation parameters based on user-defined physical parameters. Successful implementation of this approach streamlines the design process for applications that involve active target tracking and coherent imaging through turbulence.

Publication Title

Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

ISBN

9781510645103

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