A low-cost large-aperture optical receiver for remote sensing and imaging applications

Abstract

An inexpensive large aperture (10 m class) receiver for optical wavelength imaging and remote sensing applications is discussed. The design was developed for active (laser illumination) imaging of remote objects using pupil plane measurement techniques, where relatively low optical quality collecting elements can be used. The approach is also well suited for conventional imaging at lower resolutions when light collection capability is of primary importance.The approach relies on a large aperture heliostat consisting of an array of flat mirror segments, like those used in solar collector systems, to collect light from the region of interest. The heliostat segments are tilted in a manner to concentrate the light, by making the light from all segments overlap at a common point, resulting in a region of higher intensity about the size of a segment at the heliostat "focus". A smaller secondary collector, consisting of a concave mirror located at the overlap point, further concentrates the light and forms a pupil image of the heliostat. Additional optics near the pupil image collimate the light for efficient transmission though a narrow band interference filter used to reduce sky background, and focus the light onto a PMT, or other sensor, for detection. Several design approaches for the collimating optics are discussed as well as system performance and limitations.