Design considerations for coherent optical antennas

Examines some design considerations for coherent optical antennas and in particular the effects of the primary or third-order aberrations on relative mixing efficiency. When designing an optical subsystem for a coherent intersatellite link (ISL) the designer is concerned, principally, with optimising the nominal design performance so that the wavefront errors are minimised and remain so during the lifetime of the spacecraft. The most significant contribution, due to its size, will be from the optical antenna (or telescope)