Aperture Synthesis: Methods and Applications to Optical Astronomy [Hardcover]

This book deals with the fundamentals of stellar interferometry with emphasis on aperture synthesis using sparse array of telescopes particularly at optical/IR wavelengths, the origin, properties, and optical effects of turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere, techniques developed to overcome image degradation. Studded with more than one hundred and fifty illustrations and tens of footnotes, it addresses the basic tricks of trade, current trend, motivation, methods, and path to future promise of true interferometry both from the ground and space. Also discussed are the technical challenge involved, such as beam transportation and recombination, detecting fringes using modern sensors, and image synthesis. Astronomical science that benefits from aperture synthesis imaging are highlighted as well.With an emphasis on aperture synthesis as well as the effects of turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere and techniques developed to overcome image degradation, this book covers all the fundamentals of stellar interferometry and includes dozens of illustrations.Preface.- Principal Symbols.- List of Acronyms.- Introduction to Wave Optics.- Principles of Interference.- Applications of Interferometry.- Single-dish Diffraction-limited Imaging.- Basic Tools and Technical Challenges.- Discrete-element Interferometers.- Image Recovery.- Astronomy with Diluted Aperture Interferometry.- Appendix A: Transfer Function of an Optical System.- Appendix B: Fourier Optics.- Appendix C: Spatial Frequency Response.- Appendix D: Zernike Representation of Atmospheric Turbulence.- Appendix E: Celestial Coordinate System.- References.- Index.Professor S. K. Saha is with the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore, India. He has spent one year (1988-89) at the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur (formerly C.E.R.G.A) in Caussols, France. During this year he conducted research on the high angular features of stars, using the long baseline topical interferometer with a pair of 1.5 meter telescopes. He has al³