Amplitude Zone Plate in Adaptive Optics: Proposal of the Principle

One of the main elements in hardware-based adaptive optics systems is a deformable mirror. There is quite a large number of such mirrors based on different principles and exhibiting varying performance. They constitute a significant portion of the cost of the final optical devices. In this study, we consider the possibility of replacing an adaptive mirror with the adaptive amplitude Fresnel zone plate, implemented using a digital light-processing matrix. Since such matrices are widely used in mass industry products (light projectors), their costs in large batches are 1–2 orders of magnitude lower than the cost of inexpensive deformable mirrors. Numerical modeling for scanning an optical coherence tomography system with adaptive optics is presented. It is shown that wavefront distortions with high spatial frequencies and large amplitudes can be corrected using an amplitude Fresnel zone plate. The results are compared with piezoelectric and microelectromechanical system mirrors.