Smart adaptive optic systems using spatial light modulators

Many factors contribute to the aberrations induced in an optical system. Atmospheric turbulence between the object and the imaging system, physical or thermal perturbations in optical elements degrade the system's point spread function, and misaligned optics are the primary sources of aberrations that affect image quality. The design of a nonconventional real-time adaptive optic system using a micro-mirror device for wavefront correction is presented. The unconventional compensated imaging system presented offers advantages in speed, cost, power consumption, and weight. A pulsed-coupled neural network is used to as a preprocessor to enhance the performance of the wavefront sensor for low-light applications. Modeling results that characterize the system performance are presented.