Microscale Adaptive Optical Wavefront Correction

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Phase distortions due to inhomogeneities in the optical path severely limit the perforinancc of a large class of optical systems for ground-to-ground and space communications, imaging through the atmosphere, medical laser beam focusing, among others. Demands on increased spatial resolutions and larger bandwidths call for an integrated approach to adaptive optics that modulates the wavefront in parallel at microscopic scale.This collaborative effort combines expertise in adaptive optics, analog parallel very-large scale integrated (VLSI) niicrosys-tems, microfabrication and liquid-crystal molecular systems to create a new generation of adaptive micro-optical systems for high-resolution wavefront correction, with over 10,000 fully autonomous control elements integrated on a single, hybrid opti-cal/electronic chip. Autonomy is essential for high-bandwidth operation, and is obtained by integrating all adaptive functions directly on-chip.At the architectural level, model-free adaptive control is implemented using parallel perturbation stochastic gradient descent optimization of an arbitrary, externally provided metric of system performance. At the physical level, high-speed wavefront control at micro-scale resolution is obtained by integrating a new type of fast nematic liquid-crystal (LC), operating at kilohertz- range bandwidths, onto the adaptive control chip. Silicon-on-sapphire (SoS) technology with ultra-thin silicon (UTSi) transis-tors provides a high-quality, low-noise, transparent active medium for high-density optical and electronic integration. We will investigate microscale structures of LC material sandwiched in between two transparent SoS wafers, implementing arrays of phase modulators with active electrodes implementing the adaptive algorithms in parallel. directly interfacing with the wave- front. The architectural and technological innovations combine to yield a projected system performance in excess of 108 control updates/sec. at least a factor 1,000 better than presently existing adaptive optics systems in speed, density and cost.This program integrates research and education in a sequence of project-intensive courses, where teams of graduate and undergraduate students learn to design. prototype and test adaptive optics co-processors, implemented in analog VLSI and fabricated through MOSIS. The adaptive co-processors will be configured to externally control a variety of fast LC and other spatial light phase modulators, available for experimentation at the Army Research Laboratory (ARL). In addition, we will make use of full-size UTSi SoS wafers provided by Peregrine Semiconductor, custom-fabricated in a special arrangement with Hopkins, to prototype a fully integrated version of consistent optical quality. The already polished SoS wafers will be post-processed at the JHU Microfabrication Laboratory and at Boulder Nonlinear Systems. Inc.. to pattern and deposit fast nematic LC in contact with SoS for fast spatial light phase modulation. The prototyped adaptive micro-optical systems will be experimentally demonstrated on various adaptive optics and imaging tasks including laser beam focusing and stabilization for optical communications.