Our linear astigmatism-free confocal off-axis collimator comprises two off-axis mirrors and one flat mirror with an aperture size of 73 mm and a focal length of 1200 mm. The off-axis mirrors, along with all other opto-mechanical parts, will be fabricated from the same material, such as aluminum alloy 6061-T6. This concept inherently creates an athermalized structure, meaning the entire system expands or contracts by the same amount as the thermal coefficient of expansion, ensuring that the image remains consistently in focus. We approached this collimator’s design as if it were an astronomical telescope, reversing the optical path directions, and conducted tolerance analysis using Optic Studio (ZEMAX) to define the opto-mechanical design requirements. The collimator’s target or telescope imaging sensor size is 4 × 4 mm, with a required imaging resolution of 13.7 cycles/mm at a wavelength of 750 nm. To achieve this, we divided the full field (4 × 4 mm) into 3 × 3 subfields, ensuring that the average Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) value exceeds 10%. We performed Monte-Carlo Simulations 5000 times to determine tolerance ranges with a 90% confidence level. Furthermore, we conducted stray light analysis for our off-axis collimator design. In comparison to typical on-axis Cassegrain designs, where baffles block some parts of the target rays and reduce intensity, our designed confocal off-axis collimator accommodates baffles without obstructing any light from the target.
The fifth Sloan Digital Sky Survey Local Volume Mapper (LVM) is a wide-field integral field unit survey that uses an array of four 160 mm fixed telescopes with siderostats to minimize the number of moving parts. An individual telescope observes the science or calibration field independently and is synchronized with the science exposure. We developed the LVM Acquisition and Guiding Package (LVMAGP)-optimized telescope control software program for LVM observations, which can simultaneously control four focusers, three K-mirrors, one fiber selector, four mounts (siderostats), and seven guide cameras. This software is built on a hierarchical architecture and the SDSS framework and provides three key sequences: autofocus, field acquisition, and autoguide. We designed and fabricated a proto-model siderostat to test the telescope pointing model and LVMAGP software. The mirrors of the proto-model were designed as an isogrid open-back type, which reduced the weight by 46% and enabled reaching thermal equilibrium quickly. In addition, deflection due to bolting torque, self-gravity, and thermal deformation was simulated, and the maximum scatter of the pointing model induced by the tilt of optomechanics was predicted to be 4′.4, which can be compensated for by the field acquisition sequence. We performed a real sky test of LVMAGP with the proto-model siderostat and obtained field acquisition and autoguide accuracies of 0″.38 and 1″.5, respectively. It met all requirements except for the autoguide specification, which will be resolved by more precise alignment among the hardware components at Las Campanas Observatory.
The optical design of a 400 mm-aperture, f/3, three-mirror freeform telescope for the MESSIER surveyor mission is presented. PhoSim PSF (Point Spread Function) simulations of the linear astigmatism-free optical design and mirror surfaces’ microroughness modeling indicate good manufacturability.
We suggest a novel monolithic design for metal mirror mounting to reduce the surface deformation by the assembly stress. The mirror has a duplex layer to suppress the stress transport and a triangle ear structure for assembly. The reflective surface is on a front layer and a back layer consists of the triangle ears. We perform the structural analysis and manufacture the mirrors and measure the z-sag via UA3P to verify the effectiveness of the design. Comparing the two results, we find out that the design can reduce surface deformation by external stress as we expect.
The conventional on-axis reflective systems suffer from a diffraction effect on the Point Spread Function (PSF) due to the secondary mirror obscuration. Meanwhile, the unobscured off-axis reflective systems’ imaging performance may be impacted by linear astigmatism aberration. The Linear Astigmatism Free-Three Mirror System (LAF-TMS) is a confocal off-axis reflective system that eliminates linear astigmatism and enables a wide Field of View (FoV). We present an enhanced design of LAF-TMS, called ”wide-wide”, which has an aperture of D=40mm, an effective focal length of f=75mm, and a wide FoV of 8.25°(Horizontal) × 6.21°(V ertical) combined with a wide spectral bandwidth capability suitable for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) applications. To evaluate the performance of this compact and fast optical system design, we use the Photon Simulator (PhoSim) to model physically accurate PSF under different conditions of the mirror surface, mechanical environment, and atmosphere. As a benchmark, we compare and analyze the PhoSim PSF results with other ray tracing software such as Zemax and CodeV. Additionally, PhoSim is capable of simulating infrared spectral imaging cases with a user-defined Spectral Energy Distribution (SED), intensity, and emissivity of each pixel. The comprehensive simulation results demonstrate the high performance of the LAF-TMS with a wide-wide FoV and multispectral capabilities.
Sloan Digital Sky Survey fifth-generation (SDSS-V) Local Volume Mapper (LVM) is a wide-field IFU survey that uses an array of four 160 mm telescopes. It provides IFU spectra over the optical range with R ∼ 4,000 to reveal the inner components of galaxies and the evolution of the universe. Each telescope observes the science field or the calibration field independently, but all of them should be simultaneously synchronized with the science exposure. To minimize the moving parts, the LVM adopted the siderostat design with a field derotator. We designed the optimized control software for our LVM observation, lvmagp, which controls four focusers, three K-mirror derotators, one fiber selector, four mounts (siderostats), and seven guide cameras. It was built on its owen user interface and messaging protocol called actor and clu based on asynchronous programming. The lvmagp provides three key sequences: autofocus sequence, field acquisition sequence, and autoguide sequence. Also, we designed and fabricated the proto-model siderostat for the software test. The real sky test was made with proto-model siderostat, and the lvmagp showed arcsecond-level field acquisition and autoguide accuracy.
Linear Astigmatism Free - Three Mirror System (LAF-TMS) is a confocal off-axis system that eliminates linear astigmatism, which is the most critical aberration especially in the large field angle, and therefore, enables the telescope to have a wide field of view. Based on our experience with the telescope, we optimized the LAF-TMS for wavelength ranges of mid-wavelength infrared (3-5 µm) and long-wavelength infrared (8-12 µm) sensors onboard Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). It has an entrance pupil diameter of 70 mm, a focal ratio of 1.4, and a wide field of view (FoV) of 6.20° × 4.68°, matching 10.9 mm × 8.2 mm sensor with 17 µ m sized pixels (LAF-TMS D70F1.4). The freeform mirrors of LAF- TMS D70F1.4 are optimized to eliminate the high order aberration. As a result, LAF-TMS D70F1.4 can achieve high- quality optical performance over a wide FoV without any additional correcting lenses. We performed the sensitivity analysis and the Monte-Carlo simulations as the feasibility study. During the sensitivity analysis and the Monte-Carlo simulation, decenter, tilt, despace, and surface RMS errors of three mirrors were analyzed. From the sensitivity analysis, we investigated 80% Energy Encircled Diameter by single factor perturbations. The system tolerance limits were calculated using the Monte-Carlo method with a normal distribution of errors. According to the results, we confirmed that the LAF-TMS D70F1.4 was feasible considering general fabrication and alignment tolerances.
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