AERO- OPTICS LABORATORY

When an otherwise collimated, coherent beam of light encounters a turbulent flow field that includes index-of-refraction fluctuations (density fluctuations in air; for example), its optical wavefront becomes aberrated, causing the beam to be degraded. The interaction of light with fluid is termed "Aero-Optics." At present, Notre Dame is funded in the area of Aero-Optics by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to perform basic, theoretical and experimental research on understanding the effect of random and coherent turbulent-fluid structures interacting with a laser beam to distort its wavefront. Much of this research is performed in the Aero-Optics Laboratory, which is part of the Hessert Center for Aerospace Research. The laboratory is used to develop new techniques for quantifying the wavefront distortion and to discover the relationship between the spatial and temporal frequencies of the distorted wavefront for a laser propagating through turbulent, variable-index flows. The facility consists of a heated, two-dimensional jet, multiple optical benches, lasers, optical components, two-axis optical position sensors and a variety of data acquisition systems. Among other things, the Aero-Optics laboratory was used to develop the world's highest-bandwidth wavefront detector, the SABT (Small-Aperture Beam Technique) wavefront sensor. The lab is also used as an optical development facility and a staging area for the build up of optical instrumentation used on other Hessert-Center facilities.

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SABT two-dimensional wavefront sensor performing measurements in Hessert Center Water Tunnel.
(Contact Ed Fitzgerald, 1-4339)

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Development/checkout of two-dimensional wavefront sensor component in Aero-Optics Laboratory
(Contact Ed Fitzgerald, 1-4339)

Please visit the Aero-Optics Group Webpage for Current Information and Publications

Direct comments, questions, and corrections to amedept@nd.edu