Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
3.5
1.9
Journals
Photonics
Special Issues
Adaptive Optics in Astronomy
share announcement

Adaptive Optics in Astronomy

A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 817

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Liang Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (SMAE), Jilin University, Changchun, China
Interests: wavefront sensing; image restoration; wavefront correction in laser application
Dr. Narsireddy Anugu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Astrophysics Department, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA
Interests: long-baseline interferometric and adaptive optics instruments and applying them for imaging stellar surfaces, and protoplanetary disks and detecting binaries

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

In recent years, adaptive optics (AO) technology has witnessed continuous advancements and breakthroughs, leading to broad applications across diverse scientific fields. Astronomy stands for not only one of the earliest application fields, but also one of the most important fields of AO and one that is still worth focusing on for AO researchers. Just as the development of adaptive optics technology over the past few decades, the continuous progress of adaptive optics technology in the field of astronomy has promoted the development of the discipline of adaptive optics and its wide application in other fields. 

In this Special Issue, we aim to highlight recent advances in the wavefront sensing, wavefront corrector, controlling algorithm, WFS-less adaptive optics system, and applications of adaptive optics in Astronomy, which will motivate the research of adaptive optics and its application in more astronomical fields. We welcome original research articles, comprehensive reviews, and case studies from researchers, academicians, and engineers who are interested in submitting to this Special Issue. 

Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Design of wavefront sensors and relative data processing techniques

Design, manufacturing, testing of wavefront correctors

Design and testing of adaptive optics system

WFS-less adaptive optics system

Measurement of atmospheric turbulence

Controlling algorithms for adaptive optics systems

Calibration methods for adaptive optics systems

Space-based adaptive optics

Dr. Liang Wang
Dr. Narsireddy Anugu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Photonics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • adaptive optics
  • wavefront sensor
  • wavefront corrector
  • wavefront controller
  • astronomical imaging
  • large- aperture ground optical telescope
  • deformable mirror
  • wavefront correction
  • atmospheric Turbulence

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

16 pages, 3153 KB  
Article
Performance Evaluation of Modal Stage SPGD Algorithm for FSOC System
by Yuling Zhao, Junrui Zhang, Yan Zhang, Wenyu Wang, Leqiang Yang, Jie Liu, Jianli Wang and Tao Chen
Photonics 2025, 12(12), 1183; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics12121183 - 30 Nov 2025
Viewed by 280
Abstract
Sensor-less adaptive optics (SLAO) using stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) offers a promising solution for wavefront correction in free-space optical communication (FSOC) systems, as it eliminates the need for conventional wavefront sensors. However, the standard SPGD algorithm’s convergence speed is limited, and it [...] Read more.
Sensor-less adaptive optics (SLAO) using stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) offers a promising solution for wavefront correction in free-space optical communication (FSOC) systems, as it eliminates the need for conventional wavefront sensors. However, the standard SPGD algorithm’s convergence speed is limited, and it is prone to becoming trapped in local extrema, especially under complex, high-dimensional wavefront distortions in large-scale and dynamic FSOC systems, hindering its use in time-sensitive, high-precision scenarios. To address these limitations, we propose a novel Modal Stage SPGD (MSSPGD) algorithm which integrates subspace optimization techniques with the traditional SPGD algorithm. By projecting the control problem onto a reduced-dimensional Zernike modal subspace and adaptively expanding controlled modes number based on performance metric, our approach decomposes the high-dimensional optimization task into a coarse to fine search optimization problem, thereby accelerating convergence speed, reducing computational complexity, and enhancing robustness against local optima. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations demonstrate that the proposed algorithm improves convergence speed, stability, and adaptability leading to more effective mitigation of turbulence-induced degradation in critical FSOC metrics. Experimental results further show that the MSSPGD algorithm achieves an approximately 25% reduction in iteration count compared to conventional SPGD. These enhancements prove that the algorithm highly suitable for real-time SLAO in demanding high-speed FSOC systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adaptive Optics in Astronomy)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 4164 KB  
Article
Comparison of Wavefront Sensing Methods for Solar Ground-Layer Adaptive Optics: Multi-Direction Averaging and Wide-Field Correlation
by Yuhe Liu, Ziming Li, Qianhan Zhou, Nanfei Yan, Xian Ran, Ao Tang, Zhen Li, Lanqiang Zhang and Changhui Rao
Photonics 2025, 12(12), 1153; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics12121153 - 24 Nov 2025
Viewed by 285
Abstract
Solar ground-layer adaptive optics (GLAO) is widely recognized as a key technology for achieving high-resolution, wide-field imaging in ground-based solar telescopes. However, the accuracy differences among various wavefront sensing methods in solar GLAO remain unclear. In this study, Monte Carlo simulations and indoor [...] Read more.
Solar ground-layer adaptive optics (GLAO) is widely recognized as a key technology for achieving high-resolution, wide-field imaging in ground-based solar telescopes. However, the accuracy differences among various wavefront sensing methods in solar GLAO remain unclear. In this study, Monte Carlo simulations and indoor GLAO experiments were conducted to perform, for the first time, a comparative analysis of two representative wavefront sensing methods: multi-direction averaging (MD-A) and wide-field correlation (WF-C). The results demonstrate that WF-C consistently achieves higher detection accuracy than MD-A, although the differences between the two methods are small. With an increasing field of view (FoV), the detection accuracy of MD-A improves but remains lower than that of WF-C. In terms of correction performance, significant improvements in central FoV imaging were achieved using WF-C within narrow-to-moderate FoVs, whereas in wide and ultra-wide FoVs, MD-A produced more uniform image quality enhancements. Using the 1 m New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST) GLAO system as an example, MD-A is better suited to wide and future ultra-wide field imaging (over 80″), whereas WF-C is more appropriate for high-precision wavefront sensing within narrow to moderate fields (20″–60″). These findings provide both theoretical guidance and practical insights for the optimization of GLAO systems and wavefront sensing strategies in 1-meter-class wide-field solar telescopes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adaptive Optics in Astronomy)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop