Research on Optical System of Dim Target Simulator Based on Polarization Stray Light Suppression

Abstract

In view of the lack of high-precision optical simulation equipment for dim space targets at present, in this study, a simulation method for dim space targets based on polarization stray light suppression is proposed, the overall optical system architecture of the optical engine for depolarization stray light suppression is constructed, the mechanism of stray light generation is explored, and the dark state light leakage suppression method is presented by compensating the phase of LCOS reflected light with wave plate; a high-image quality collimating optical system with large field of view and flat aberration is designed based on the illumination system optimization method of the critical angle matching of the spectroscopic film; and the polarization stray light suppression effect and star position simulation error of the dim target simulator are tested. The test results show that the illumination of the simulated dim target is ≮10−10 lx, the contrast is 6.96, the non-uniformity of the bright state is only 5.88%, and the simulation error of the star position is 9.9″. This research can make some contributions to enhancing the observability of detecting dim targets, breaking through the detection technology of extremely dark targets in space, developing advanced deep space detection capabilities, and improving the engineering technology system of deep space exploration.