Design And Performance Of Ranging Telescopes: Monolithic Versus Synthetic Aperture

James E. Harvey; Malcolm J. MacFarlane; James L. Forgham

doi:10.1117/12.7973447

1 February 1985 Design And Performance Of Ranging Telescopes: Monolithic Versus Synthetic Aperture

James E. Harvey, Malcolm J. MacFarlane, James L. Forgham

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Optical Engineering, Vol. 24, Issue 1, 241183 (February 1985). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.7973447

Abstract

For the special case of monolithic ranging telescopes, a family of characteristic design curves for various system performance requirements is discussed. The required secondary mirror displacement and the tolerance on this position, as well as the corresponding depth of field for any desired range, can be readily obtained from this normalized family of curves. The hyperfocal distance (closest range within depth of field when infinite range is also in focus) is also displayed on this set of curves and can be used to determine when it is necessary to activate ranging. The degradation in system performance is then plotted versus range, and the closest effective range is determined. This range is a strong function of telescope diameter and is crucial to certain ranging telescope applications. This degradation in system performance is then deter-mined for various properly phased synthetic-aperture systems (multiple-mirror telescopes) and compared to the monolithic telescope of equivalent aperture. For certain applications these results provide a strong motivation for going to synthetic-aperture telescopes based upon optical performance alone.

Citation Download Citation

James E. Harvey, Malcolm J. MacFarlane, and James L. Forgham "Design And Performance Of Ranging Telescopes: Monolithic Versus Synthetic Aperture," Optical Engineering 24(1), 241183 (1 February 1985). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.7973447

Published: 1 February 1985

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