Principles of Imaging Using Arrays

Abstract

Since diffraction-limited imaging with a single aperture yields angular resolution ~ λ/D, the attainment of high angular resolution with single apertures requires the construction of correspondingly large monolithic apertures, the whole surface of which must be figured to much less than a wavelength. At the longer wavelengths, it is impossible to build a sufficiently large single aperture: for example, at λ21 cm, arcsecond resolution requires an aperture of diameter ~ 50 km. At the shorter wavelengths, the atmosphere imposes a natural limit in resolution of about one arcsecond. However, another route is possible: that of using synthetic apertures to image the sky. The problem of figuring synthetic apertures is considerably simpler, and can be implemented in a computer. Synthetic apertures are now in use in many fields, e.g. radio-interferometry, radar imaging, magnetic resonance imaging. Radio-interferometric techniques developed in radio-astronomy over the past forty years are now being applied to optical and IR astronomical imaging by a number of groups.