Mocoeur SF2A 05

SF2A 2005
F. Casoli, T. Contini, J.M. Hameury, and L. Pagani (eds)
MULTI-TELESCOPE INSTRUMENTS COPHASING FOR

ASTRONOMY
Mocoeur, I 1 , Cassaing, F.1 , Baron, F. 2 , Blanc, A.1 , Mugnier, L.1 ,

Rousset, G.1 and Sorrente, B.1
Abstract. Interferometry is used to combine light from several telescopes

to obtain a resolution equivalent to a single telescope with the diameter of
the combined spread of beams. However, the performance of the intrument
thus synthetized is linked to the measurement and the correction of the
aberrations between the telescopes. For cophasing a large number of beams,
focal-plane approach has been selected due to its simple opto-mechanical de-
vice. Several focal-plane algorithms, developped at ONERA, were validated
by simulations and by experiments on a laboratory test bench; the results we
obtained demonstrate that a simple focal-plane fringe sensor can be easily
implemented on most instruments such as VLTI Very Large Telescope In-
terferometer /2nd generation (4 to 8 beams) or spaceborne interferometers.
1 Introduction
The next generation of multi-telescope interferometers will have more cophasing

requirements. For nulling, a very accurate OPD correction is required, and for
imaging, an increasing number of apertures will be used. The measurement of
higher orders than differential piston, at least differential tip/tilt, for real-time of
post-facto correction is also required.
When cophasing a large number of beams, new approachs should be considered
because the classical pairwise combination leads to an unreasonable complexity.
Two focal-plane algorithms, the ”Phase Retrieval” and the ”Phase Diversity” (de-
scribed in section 2), inherited from wavefront sensors on monolithic telescopes or
interferometric fringe sensors were developped at ONERA. These algorithms were
validated on a laboratory test bench; the analysis of these results are presented
in section 3. Finally, the validity of the simple focal-plane approach is given in
conclusion.
1 ONERA - Office National d’Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales
Optics Department, BP 72, 92322 Châtillon cedex, France

2 Cavendish Laboratory - University of Cambridge
Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OHE

c EDP Sciences 2004

2 SF2A 2005
2 Cophasing a multiple-beam instrument: requirements and solutions
Spaceborne interferometers and 2nd generation instruments for the VLTI will have
stringent requirements: they will use 3 or 4 beams, 8 at the most; not only pis-
ton/tip/tilt correction1 , but also higher orders stabilization will be required. Fur-
thermore, cophasing on a wide field can also be specified. Such multi-purpose
sensors has already been investigated at ONERA for two projects with similar re-
quirements. The first one is DARWIN (Detection and Analysis of Remote Worlds
by Interferometric Nulling) composed by 4 flyers dedicated to the search of hab-
itable terrestrial exo-planets. For the fringe sensor (ref. 1), correction from piston
to spherical aberration is required with nanometric accuracy. The second project
is GEO (ref. 2), an imaging interferometer for Earth observations from a geosta-
tionnary orbit. In this case, the main difficulty is the cophasing on a wide field.
Due to that new requirements, ONERA have developped several focal-plane
algorithms inherited from wavefront sensors on monolithic telescopes:
• For ”Phase Retrieval”, only the focal plane is used, when the object is
known (unresolved reference star). Although Phase Retrieval is known to
lead for centro-symmetric pupils (case of monolithic telescopes) to a sign
ambiguity on the even part of the phase, a non-redundant multiple-beam
configuration allows to uniquely solve for piston/tip/tilt.
• For ”Phase Diversity”, 2 images are taken, in the focal plane and in an
extra-focal plane (or with any other known aberration). In this case, the two
data sets allow to fully retrieve the two macro-unknowns (object and phase):
phase ambiguities are resolved and the object can also be estimated.
These algorithms, gathered in the MASTIC code (Multiple-Aperture Software for
Telescope Imaging and Cophasing) were validated by simulations and by experi-
ments on the laboratory test bench BRISE (Banc Reconfigurable d’Imagerie sur
Scènes Étendues).
3 Experimentals results on the BRISE bench
Brise is mainly composed by (ref. 3) two objects, an unresolved monomode fiber

(He-Ne laser) and a photographic plate illuminated by a white cell, an aperture
mask and three planar mirrors monted on piezo-electric plateforms which can
introduce calibrated piston/tip/tilt aberrations, the cophasing sensor, which
records simultaneously the focal and extrafocal images of each object in a single
frame of a CCD camera, a control software and an efficient isolation against
environmental disturbances (air turbulence, vibrations, thermal drifts).
Piston linearity:
To check the correct behavior of the estimators, a linearity test was first made. A
30-point piston slope from -500 nm to +500 nm is applied on a given sub-aperture.
1 In this article, all the aberrations mentionned are differential aberrations.

Multi-telescope instruments cophasing for astronomy 3
The estimated piston with Phase Retrieval (Figure 1a) or Phase Diversity (Fig-
ure 1b) is linear between ±λ/2 and wrapped as expected. Because diffraction is
chromatic, whereas our numerical model is monochromatic, the spectral band-
width is an important parameter to optimize. All curves where measured at
λ = 650 nm with ∆λ=40 nm for the extended scene and three filters (width=
10 nm, 40 nm and 80 nm) used for Phase Retrieval. The slope is close to one:
the piston cophasing on polychromatic source is possible with the phase retrieval
algorithm (80 nm @ 650 nm = λ/8).
Figure 1b, for each introduced piston, three measurements are realized. As a
comparison, the result obtained with the Phase Retrieval (unresolved object) is
reported, showing that the linearity is excellent from −λ/2 to +λ/2. With the
extended object, the wrapping at 635 nm is not clear; this phenomena can be
explained by the object form. However, it’s not a problem in closed loop. We also
performed repeatability measurements that have shown the excellent behavior of
our estimator(standard deviation of estimated piston under 10 nm in photon-noise
mode).
(a) (b)
Fig. 1. a: Piston linearity with Phase Retrieval and different bandwidths. b: Compari-
son between Phase Retrieval and Phase Diversity.
Piston repeatability:
Figure 2a shows the repeatability obtained on the piston measurement at 650 nm.
Experimental data are compared to the simulation: images simulated are gener-
ated with photon noise and RON, at the same wavelength and with the same flux
than experimental one. √ First, we note that in photon-noise mode, the aberrations
follows the expected 1/ N law, whereas at low fluxes, the piston estimation is
dominated by the detector noise. The piston performance is excellent, and the
0.75 nm repeatability specified for DWARF is reached.
A similar simulation has been performed for VLTI. The number of sub-apertures
was progressively increased, based on Golay aperture configurations for simplicity.
The result Figure 2b shows that the repeatability is better for UT configuration,
4 SF2A 2005
(a) (b)
Fig. 2. a: Piston repeatability for DARWIN with Phase Retrieval. b: Piston repeata-
bility for the VLTI with Phase Retrieval.
as expected; we also notice that the piston measurement error increases with the
number of apertures. However, a good estimation is possible (with a Golay3 in
UT configuration, 100 nm @ V9 = λ/22).
4 Conclusion and perspectives
With the BRISE test bench, the use of the focal-plane approach for a fringe sen-
sor have been validated; piston can be well-estimated with nanometric retetabil-
ity using Phase Retrieval or Phase Diversity (Golay3 configuration), not only on
unresolved objects but as well as wide fields. We also demonstrate that it can
be applicable to a variable number of beams. Focal-plane fringe-sensing is thus
a simple solution wich can be easily implemented on most instruments such as
VLTI/2nd generation or spaceborne interferometers. Future investigations will
enable us to understand the infuence of the pupil configuration, and to caracterize
the behaviour of ours algorithms in higer orders.
References
[1] Cassaing, F. et al. 2003, DARWIN Fringe Sensor (DWARF): Concept Study, in To-
wards Other Earths, vol. SP-539, 389
[2] Mugnier, L. et al. 2004, Multiple-Aperture Optical Telescopes: some key issues for
Earth observation from a GEO orbit, in 5th International Conference On Space Op-
tics, vol. SP-554, 181
[3] Sorrente, B. et al. 2004, Multiple-Aperture Optical Telescopes: cophasingsensor
testbed, in 5th International Conference On Space Optics, vol. SP-554, 479

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SF2A 2005

F. Casoli, T. Contini, J.M. Hameury, and L. Pagani (eds)

MULTI-TELESCOPE INSTRUMENTS COPHASING FOR

Mocoeur, I 1 , Cassaing, F.1 , Baron, F. 2 , Blanc, A.1 , Mugnier, L.1 ,

Abstract. Interferometry is used to combine light from several telescopes

The next generation of multi-telescope interferometers will have more cophasing

1 ONERA - Office National d’Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales

Optics Department, BP 72, 92322 Châtillon cedex, France

Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OHE

2 Cophasing a multiple-beam instrument: requirements and solutions

3 Experimentals results on the BRISE bench

Brise is mainly composed by (ref. 3) two objects, an unresolved monomode fiber

1 In this article, all the aberrations mentionned are differential aberrations.

4 Conclusion and perspectives

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