Abstract

The design of multiple aperture array systems intended to cover a relatively wide field of view requires the appropriate combination of individual telescopes feeding a central collecting telescope system. In addition, specific aberration correction and scaling relations between the individual telescopes and the collecting telescope must be maintained. Of necessity there are at lease two optical axes that must be considered in such designs, with rotated symmetries dependent upon the position of each telescope in the array, practical systems should contain a minimum number of components in order to maintain high transmission, leading to the desirable sharing of components between the symmetries of the telescopes and such array designs, and examines the implications of adding aspheric correctors attached to the collector symmetry to the individual components of the telescope array. Two design approaches, one using collecting Mersenne telescopes and a second using four mirror telescopes are compared, the effect of changing primary mirror relative aperture and system length upon the symmetry and order of aberrations arising from the use of eccentric aspheric is explained, and some of the subtle limitations of correcting techniques applicable to adding decentered aspheric to optical design programs as special surfaces are discussed.

© 1990 Optical Society of America