Cophasing detection of the segmented diffractive optical elements with the phase diversity method

Abstract

The diffractive optical elements (DOEs) have the advantages of lightweight, low-cost, loose surface-figure tolerances and convenient folding, which provides a direction for next-generation large (>20 m) space telescopes. However, the cophasing of the DOEs limits its application in telescopes and decreases the optical system performance. The phase diversity method is studied and introduced to solve the cophasing detection of the two segmented DOEs. An improved experimental system is set up using the phase diversity method, and the experiment results show that the piston error and tilt error of the two mirrors are 0.03λ and 0.05 μrad, respectively, which meet the actual needs of the cophasing errors.