GIMBALED DEFORMABLE MIRROR-BASED OPTICAL HEAD FOR FREE-SPACE OPTICAL COMMUNICATION

An optical system includes an optical antenna configured to receive and/or transmit laser beams through a first aperture, a gimbal-mounted deformable mirror (GDM) configurable to correct aberrations of a received laser beam, a power selector configurable to split the received laser beam into a first light beam and a second light beam, a wavefront sensor configured to measure a wavefront of the first light beam, a collimator configured to couple the second light beam into an optical fiber, and a controller configured to control the GDM for laser beam tracking and for correcting the aberrations of the received laser beam based on the wavefront of the first light beam measured by the wavefront sensor. The GDM is configurable to scan, within a field of regard (FOR), a beacon beam to be transmitted for laser beam tracking; or scan within the FOR to acquire a beacon beam transmitted by a terminal.