Smart co-phasing system for segmented mirror telescopes

Space observations of fainter and more distant astronomical objects constantly require telescope primary mirrors with a larger size. The diameter of monolithic primary mirrors is limited to 10 m because of manufacturing and logistics limitations. For space telescopes, monolithic primary mirrors are limited to less than 5 m due to fairing capacity. Segmented primary mirrors thus constitute an alternative solution to deal with the steadily increase of the primary mirror size. The optical path difference between the individual segments must be close to zero (few nm) in order to be diffraction limited over the full telescope aperture. In this paper a new system that may co-phase 7 segments at once with the light of a star and without artificial one is proposed. First the measuring methods and feedback system is explained, then the breadboard setup is presented and the results are analyzed and discussed, finally a comparison with Keck telescope is performed. This system can be adapted in order to be used in the co-phasing system of future segmented mirrors, its dynamic range starts from several hundred of microns till some tenths of nanometers