<title>Conformal dome aberration correction with counter-rotating phase plates</title>

Abstract

ABSTRACT Domes have been designed that conform to the aerodynamic requirements of airborne systems, as well as the opticalrequirements. Such domes have large amounts of aberrations - lOs to lOOs of waves. Typical systems also have gimbals thatpoint the optical line of sight through different parts of the domes. Aberrations vary significantly with pointing angle andtherefore require dynamic correction. This paper describes the performance of a new class of optical systems that employcounter-rotating phase plates to correct conformal dome aberrations. The correctors are described by Zernike circularpolynomials. Since the shear is rotational, only aberrations with non-rotational symmetry can be created, like coma orastigmatism. A theoretical development shows the relationship between the corrector surface shapes and the aberrationscreated. Code V was used to model the correction capabilities of the angular shear corrector plates.Keywords: conformal optics, dome, window, aberration, correction, phase plate