Adaptive optics system for a short wavelength mid-IR laser based on a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor and analysis of thermal noise impacts

0564267 - FZÚ 2023 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Zhou, Huang - Pilař, Jan - Smrž, Martin - Chen, Liyuan - Čech, M. - Mocek, Tomáš
Adaptive optics system for a short wavelength mid-IR laser based on a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor and analysis of thermal noise impacts.
Applied Optics. Roč. 61, č. 27 (2022), s. 7958-7965. ISSN 1559-128X. E-ISSN 2155-3165
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT EF15_006/0000674
EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 739573 - HiLASE CoE
Grant - others:OP VVV - HiLASE-CoE(XE) CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_006/0000674
Institutional support: RVO:68378271
Keywords : mid-IR laser * Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor * analysis of thermal noise impacts
OECD category: Optics (including laser optics and quantum optics)
Impact factor: 1.9, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.464676

We present an adaptive optics (AO) system for a 1.94-µm laser source. Our system consists of a home-made Shack– Hartmann wavefront sensor and silver-coated bimorph deformable mirror operating in a closed-loop control scheme. The wavefront sensor used an uncooled vapor phase deposition PbSe focal-plane array for the actual light sensing. An effect of thermal afterimage was found to be reducing the centroid detection precision significantly. The effect was analyzed in detail and finally has been dealt with by updating the background calibration. System stability was increased by reduction of control modes. The system functionality and stability were demonstrated by improved focal spot quality. By replacing some of the used optics, the range of the demonstrated mid-IR AOS could be extended to cover the spectral range of 1–5 µm. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first AO system built specifically for mid-IR laser wavefront correction.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0335968