Development of an off-axis TMA telescope for coastal water remote sensing

A proto-model of an off-axis reflective fore-optics in a new hyperspectral sensor onboard a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is developed for low-altitude coastal remote sensing. In spite of the substantial advantages of off-axis optics over refractive or on-axis reflective optics, it is difficult to fabricate and align the mirrors in off-axis systems because of their asymmetric configurations. The fore-optics is designed by Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST) as a three-mirror system including aspheric primary and secondary mirrors, with an entrance pupil diameter of 70 mm and F-ratio of 5.0. The off-axis mirror is fabricated by a single point diamond turning machine (SPDTM) with a form accuracy of 89.3 nm (RMS) and surface roughness of 7.2 nm (Ra). Coarse alignment of this three-mirror off-axis optical system is accomplished by using a designated base plate and a coordinate measuring machine. The optical performance is tested using the point spread function of the returned collimated beam of a Fizeau interferometer.