Optical-component-only adaptive optics.

ABSTRACT

This Letter introduces a technique for performing binary adaptive optics, which is carried out by optical components only, without the help of any electronic or optoelectronic device. In this technique, the interferogram produced by a point diffraction interferometer modulates a light-driven crystal. The modulated light-driven crystal may produce pupil-plane only-phase or only-amplitude binary masks to mitigate phase aberrations. The capability of working unsupported makes it suitable for application in hard-to-reach or hazardous locations such as satellites, underwater, or contaminated places. The Letter includes an experimental validation where the ability of the technique to produce pupil amplitude masking is confirmed.