Performance analysis of Mach-Zehnder interferometer for detection of wavefront discontinuities (original) (raw)

SPIE Proceedings, 2003

Abstract

This paper presents a study of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer for the segmentation error measurement in a giant segmented telescope. We present a thorough theoretical anlaysis of the system performance and deliver an analytical formula for the interferometric signal in the Fraunhofer diffraction approximation. We consider the effects which cause system performance degradation, such as gaps and segment edge misfigure. Taking into account photon noise, we determine the limiting star magnitude. A special emphasis is placed on the analysis of system performance in the presence of atmospheric turbulence.

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