Exploiting phase light modulators for low-SWaP real-time wavefront correction at high-resolution
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Wavefront correction and beam tracking are critical in applications such as long-range imaging through turbulence and free-space optical communication. For instance, adaptive optics systems are employed to correct wavefront distortions caused by atmospheric turbulence and optical misalignments, while beam tracking systems maintain alignment between separate devices in free-space communication scenarios. Current state-of-the-art approaches offer several high-performance solutions, each tailored to specific correction tasks. However, integrating all these functionalities into a single device, e.g., for simultaneous adaptive wavefront correction and tracking, can significantly increase the size, weight, and power consumption (SWaP) of the final system. In this contribution, we demonstrate the use of the Texas Instruments Phase Light Modulator (PLM) as a low-SWaP, chip-scale solution for simultaneous wavefront correction and beam tracking in real-time, featuring over one million actuators. In particular, we will present and discuss multiple algorithms and optimization strategies that we have specifically developed for PLM-based wavefront correction.
DOI: 10.1117/12.3067496
Institution: University of Arizona
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4414342977