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The low-frequency component of the distortions caused by both the atmospheric turbulence and the behavior of the telescope itself has been studied. A corrector for the position of the center of the star image has been developed and is being used in front of the high-resolution Echelle spectrograph on the 6 m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences. To speed up the calculations and to increase the bandwidth, a laser beam angular stabilization system based on an FPGA platform is considered. The system consists of two tip-tilt mirrors and two quadrant photodiodes. The FPGA analyzes the signals from the photodiodes, calculates and then applies the voltages to the piezo-driven tip-tilt mirrors to minimize the displacement of the beam on the photodiodes. The stabilization system was developed as a part of the adaptive optical system to improve the efficiency of the high-resolution Echelle spectrograph.

Structural vibrations in Tip-Tilt modes usually affect the closed-loop performance of astronomically optical telescopes. In this paper, the state of art control methods—proportional integral (PI) control, linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control, disturbance feed forward (DFF) control, and disturbance observer control (DOBC) of Tip-Tilt mirror to reject vibrations are first reviewed, and then compared systematically and comprehensively. Some mathematical transfor-mations allow PI, LQG, DFF, and DOBC to be described in a uniform framework of sensitivity function that expresses their advantages and disadvantages. In essence, feed forward control based-inverse model is the main idea of current techniques, which is dependent on accuracies of models in terms of Tip-Tilt mirror and vibrations. DOBC can relax dependences on accuracy model, and therefore this survey concentrates on concise tutorials of this method with clear descriptions of their features in the control area of disturbance rejections. Its applications in various conditions are reviewed with emphasis on the effectiveness. Finally, the open problems, challenges and research prospects of DOBC of Tip-Tilt mirror are discussed.

Accurate segmented mirror wavefront sensing and control is essential for next-generation large aperture telescope system design. In this paper, a direct tip–tilt and piston error detection technique based on model-based phase retrieval with multiple defocused images is proposed for segmented mirror wavefront sensing. In our technique, the tip–tilt and piston error are represented by a basis consisting of three basic plane functions with respect to the x, y, and z axis so that they can be parameterized by the coefficients of these bases; the coefficients then are solved by a non-linear optimization method with the defocus multi-images. Simulation results show that the proposed technique is capable of measuring high dynamic range wavefront error reaching 7λ, while resulting in high detection accuracy. The algorithm is demonstrated as robust to noise by introducing phase parameterization. In comparison, the proposed tip–tilt and piston error detection approach is much easier to implement than many existing methods, which usually introduce extra sensors and devices, as it is a technique based on multiple images. These characteristics make it promising for the application of wavefront sensing and control in next-generation large aperture telescopes.

We integrate a metasurface with a multicore fiber in a lensless two-photon endoscope. The fiber’s transmission matrix is measured using an SLM, and its phase corrections are transferred to the metasurface to enable beam focusing. Our ongoing work suggests that integrating tip-tilt scanning could eventually allow point-by-point image reconstruction, paving the way toward truly miniaturized endoscopic imaging.

Timescale comparison between optical atomic clocks over ground-to-space and terrestrial free-space laser links will have enormous benefits for fundamental and applied sciences. However, atmospheric turbulence creates phase noise and beam wander that degrade the measurement precision. Here we report on phase-stabilized optical frequency transfer over a 265 m horizontal point-to-point free-space link between optical terminals with active tip-tilt mirrors to suppress beam wander, in a compact, human-portable set-up. A phase-stabilized 715 m underground optical fiber link between the two terminals is used to measure the performance of the free-space link. The active optical terminals enable continuous, cycle-slip free, coherent transmission over periods longer than an hour. In this work, we achieve residual instabilities of 2.7 × 10 −6  rad 2  Hz −1 at 1 Hz in phase, and 1.6 × 10 −19 at 40 s of integration in fractional frequency; this performance surpasses the best optical atomic clocks, ensuring clock-limited frequency comparison over turbulent free-space links. Atomic clocks and their networks are useful tools for optical communications and frequency metrology. Here the authors use phase stabilization and active tip-tilt to suppress atmospheric effects and enable optical frequency transfer through free-space.

This paper presents an innovative piezo-actuated fast-steering mirror (FSM) that integrates control design and system operation to improve the tracking performance of laser beam steering (LBS) systems. The proposed piezoelectric FSM is centered on two pairs of stacked actuators functioning in the tip-tilt direction via novel flexible hinges with strain-gauge sensors for position measurement. The suggested flexible hinge scheme allows the first fundamental resonance mode with the optical mirror to exceed 400 Hz while achieving an actuation range of ±5 mrad. Thus, the design offers a wider mechanical actuation range than conventional piezoelectric FSMs. Moreover, LBS systems that use fast-steering motion controllers should be robust against dynamic disturbances, such as periodic external vibrations. Such disturbances, inherently associated with the operating conditions for LBS systems, typically reduce the stability of the tip-tilt motion. To attenuate the effects of such disturbances, a high-precision control system is necessary for the tip-tilt motion. Therefore, a control method integrating a proportional–integral controller with an adaptive feedforward control (AFC) algorithm is outlined to enhance tip-tilt tracking performance during high-speed scanning, compared with conventional LBS systems. Based on experimental findings, the AFC algorithm boosted control performance under dynamic disturbances, such as sinusoidal vibrations with multiple frequencies.

Astronomy photonics has opened up a new era for the application of astronomical optical instruments. The fiber coupling system serves as the crucial link between the telescope and photonic devices. This paper explores a beam shaping method that utilizes a coupled lens to enhance the efficiency of coupling light into an optical single mode fiber. Compared to directly coupling the telescope beam into the fiber, this approach offers improved coupling efficiency and greater adjustment tolerance. The laboratory-based optical fiber coupling system described in this study comprises an imaging component with an F/50 ratio and a fiber coupling component. Theoretical analysis indicates that optimal coupling efficiency is achieved when the diameter of the focusing spot, limited by diffraction, matches the fiber core size. Any axial error, position error, or tip-tilt error between the lens and the fiber will reduce the coupling efficiency. Experimental results confirm that the coupling system achieves an efficiency of approximately 70%, which is close to the theoretical limit of 78%. These findings underscore the effectiveness of the fiber coupling method.

A tip-tilt mirror (TTM) control method is designed to enhance the control bandwidth and ensure the rejection performance of the adaptive optics (AO) tip-tilt correction system. Optimized with the Smith predictor and filter, linear active disturbance rejection (LADRC) is adopted to achieve the tip-tilt correction. An AO tip-tilt correction experimental platform was built to validate the method. Experimental results show that the proposed method improves the control bandwidth of the system by at least 3.6 times compared with proportional–integral (PI) control. In addition, under the same control bandwidth condition, compared with the Smith predictor and proportional–integral (PI–Smith) control method, the system is more capable of rejecting internal and external disturbances, and its dynamic response performance is improved by more than 29%.

The Extremely Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is currently under construction and is expected to become the world’s largest optical/near-infrared terrestrial astronomical observatory. Its optical design incorporates five mirrors of varying shapes, sizes, and materials. The primary mirror, with a diameter of 39 m, is perhaps the most remarkable. The fifth mirror (M5), made of SiC, ranks among the largest tip-tilt mirrors globally. Various structural joining techniques, such as bonding and brazing, are applied to these optical components to enable nanometric relative positioning between the assembled parts. This study reviews advanced real-time ultrasonic imaging based on Total Focusing Methods (TFM) for their inspection. For the M1 mirror, TFM is utilized in a tandem configuration for regular industrial use and is also applied once with Rayleigh waves to inspect the surface and subsurface of the M5 mirror. Highlights Real-time non-destructive imaging of structural bonding and brazing is conducted. The Total Focusing Method is employed in tandem configuration. A Total Focusing Method with a surface wave is applied. A method validated for industrial applications is also implemented.

Electrothermal micromirrors have become an important type of micromirrors due to their large angular scanning range and large linear motion. Typically, electrothermal micromirrors do not have a torsional bar, so they can easily generate linear motion. In this paper, electrothermal micromirrors based on different thermal actuators are reviewed, and also the mechanisms of those actuators are analyzed, including U-shape, chevron, thermo-pneumatic, thermo-capillary and thermal bimorph-based actuation. Special attention is given to bimorph based-electrothermal micromirrors due to their versatility in tip-tilt-piston motion. The exemplified applications of each type of electrothermal micromirrors are also presented. Moreover, electrothermal micromirrors integrated with electromagnetic or electrostatic actuators are introduced.