Breadboard Testing of a Phase Conjugate Engine with an Interferometric Wave-Front Sensor and a MEMS-Based Spatial Light Modulator

Laboratory breadboard results of a high-speed adaptive optics system are presented. The wave-front sensor for the adaptive optics system is based on a quadrature interferometer, which directly measures the turbulence induced phase aberrations. The laboratory experiments were conducted using Kolmogorov phase screens to simulate atmospheric phase distortions with the characterization of these plates presented below. The spatial light modulator used in the phase conjugate engine was a MEMS-based piston-only correction device with 1024 actuators. The overall system achieved correction speeds in excess of 800 hz and Strehl ratios greater than 0.5 with the Kolmogorov phase screens.