A compact cold-atom interferometer with a high data-rate grating magneto-optical trap and a photonic-integrated-circuit-compatible laser system.

The extreme miniaturization of a cold-atom interferometer accelerometer requires the development of novel technologies and architectures for the interferometer subsystems. Here, we describe several component technologies and a laser system architecture to enable a path to such miniaturization. We developed a custom, compact titanium vacuum package containing a microfabricated grating chip for a tetrahedral grating magneto-optical trap (GMOT) using a single cooling beam.

Experimental investigation in nodal aberration theory (NAT) with a customized Ritchey-Chrétien system: third-order coma.

Nodal aberration theory (NAT) describes the aberration properties of optical systems without symmetry. NAT was fully described mathematically and investigated through real-ray tracing software, but an experimental investigation is yet to be realized. In this study, a two-mirror Ritchey-Chrétien telescope was designed and built, including testing of the mirrors in null configurations, for experimental investigation of NAT.

Theory of aberration fields for general optical systems with freeform surfaces.

This paper utilizes the framework of nodal aberration theory to describe the aberration field behavior that emerges in optical systems with freeform optical surfaces, particularly φ-polynomial surfaces, including Zernike polynomial surfaces, that lie anywhere in the optical system. If the freeform surface is located at the stop or pupil, the net aberration contribution of the freeform surface is field constant. As the freeform optical surface is displaced longitudinally away from the stop or pupil of the optical system, the net aberration contribution becomes field dependent.

Assembly of a freeform off-axis optical system employing three φ-polynomial Zernike mirrors.

We report on the assembly of an off-axis reflective imaging system employing freeform, φ-polynomial optical surfaces. The sensitivity of the system to manufacturing errors is studied for both a passive and active alignment approach. The as-built system maintains diffraction-limited performance in the long-wave infrared.

Interferometric measurement of a concave, φ-polynomial, Zernike mirror.

We report on the surface figure measurement of a freeform, φ-polynomial (Zernike) mirror for use in an off-axis, reflective imaging system. The measurement utilizes an interferometric null configuration that is a combination of subsystems each addressing a specific aberration type, namely, spherical aberration, astigmatism, and coma.

Extending nodal aberration theory to include mount-induced aberrations with application to freeform surfaces.

This paper introduces the path forward for the integration of freeform optical surfaces, particularly those related to φ-polynomial surfaces, including Zernike polynomial surfaces, with nodal aberration theory. With this formalism, the performance of an optical system throughout the field of view can be anticipated analytically accounting for figure error, mount-induced errors, and misalignment. Previously, only misalignments had been described by nodal aberration theory, with the exception of one special case for figure error.

A new family of optical systems employing φ-polynomial surfaces.

Unobscured optical systems have been in production since the 1960s. In each case, the unobscured system is an intrinsically rotationally symmetric optical system with an offset aperture stop, a biased input field, or both. This paper presents a new family of truly nonsymmetric optical systems that exploit a new fabrication degree of freedom enabled by the introduction of slow-servos to diamond machining; surfaces whose departure from a sphere varies both radially and azimuthally in the aperture.

Airy beams: a geometric optics perspective.

Theoretically formulated in the 1970s within the context of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, Airy beams have been experimentally realized for the first time only recently, paving the way to innovative optical techniques. While their remarkable features, a non-diffracting property and a transverse shift of the intensity maximum during propagation, are currently theoretically described from the wave optics viewpoint, here their exact relation to rays and geometric wavefront aberrations is revealed using a wavefront family that includes two-dimensional Airy beams. Several members of this family are computationally and experimentally implemented here.