Phase-conjugation correction of distortions in a shaping telescope with a diffraction optical component

Compensation of dynamic aberrations of a shaping telescope was demonstrated experimentally. A diffraction optical component was placed on the main mirror of the telescope and it was used to couple in a reference radiation into a phase-conjugation system. It was also found that angular scanning of the output beam was possible without distorting it. The experiments were carried out using a photoionization CO₂ laser and an SF₆ phase-conjugating mirror. A repeater placed in the reference beam before the phase-conjugating mirror and a telescope preventing the passage of the reference beam through the aperture in the main mirror made it possible to widen the range of permissible distortions of the mirror to ~ 65 λ /D and the scanning range to ~ 44 λ /D while still retaining the angular divergence of the output beam close to the diffraction limit.