Performance of a Novel PMMA Polymer Imaging Bundle for Field Acquisition and Wavefront Sensing
Abstract
Imaging bundles provide a convenient way to translate a spatially coherent image, yet conventional imaging bundles made from silica fibre optics typically remain expensive with large losses due to poor filling factors ( 40%). We present the characterisation of a novel polymer imaging bundle made from poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) that is considerably cheaper and a better alternative to silica imaging bundles over short distances ( 1 m; from the middle to the edge of a telescope's focal plane). The large increase in filling factor (92% for the polymer imaging bundle) outweighs the large increase in optical attenuation from using PMMA (1 dB/m) instead of silica (10-3 dB/m). We present and discuss current and possible future multi-object applications of the polymer imaging bundle in the context of astronomical instrumentation including: field acquisition, guiding, wavefront sensing, narrow-band imaging, aperture masking, and speckle imaging. The use of PMMA limits its use in low-light applications (e.g., imaging of galaxies); however, it is possible to fabricate polymer imaging bundles from a range of polymers that are better suited to the desired science.
- Publication:
-
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
- Pub Date:
- January 2017
- DOI:
- 10.1017/pasa.2017.1
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1701.03760
- Bibcode:
- 2017PASA...34....8R
- Keywords:
-
- instrumentation: adaptive optics;
- instrumentation: high angular resolution;
- instrumentation: miscellaneous;
- telescopes;
- Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 11 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in PASA