Stray light characterization with ultrafast time-of-flight imaging

Area of Science:

• Optical Engineering
• Instrumentation Science
• Image Quality Assessment

Background:

• Stray light (SL) significantly impacts optical instrument performance, especially in space telescopes.
• Current SL characterization methods lack the ability to identify the specific origins of stray light.
• Diverse light-surface interactions create complex stray light contributors, hindering system improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and demonstrate a novel method for characterizing stray light origins in optical systems.
• To enable precise identification of individual stray light contributors.
• To provide a pathway for reverse-engineering instrument stray light sources.

Main Methods:

• Utilized ultrafast time-of-flight stray light characterization.
• Employed a pulsed laser source and a streak camera to record stray light contributors.
• Leveraged optical path length for individual stray light component identification.

Main Results:

• Successfully measured and identified individual ghost and scattering components in an imaging system.
• Demonstrated the capability to distinguish stray light contributors based on their optical path length.
• Validated the method's effectiveness in an experimental imaging setup.

Conclusions:

• Ultrafast time-of-flight stray light characterization offers a powerful tool for understanding and mitigating image quality degradation.
• This technique allows for the precise localization and identification of stray light sources.
• The method facilitates targeted design improvements by revealing the origins of stray light.