CIAO | Adaptive Optics Platform for SATCOM and Astronomy

CIAO for SATCOM & High Resolution Imaging, FSO & SATCOM

CIAO connects directly to the telescope eyepiece, positioned between the telescope’s focal plane and the user plane (sensor or fiber holder) without altering the optical path. Setup is made easy with its built-in tip-tilt alignment interface and autocalibration tools. Once the target is aligned, the user can close the Adaptive Optics loop with a single click, enabling aberration correction or precise pointing lock. It is available in Visible and in SWIR

Is CIAO compatible with your telescope ?

CIAO is compatible with ground-based telescopes with apertures from f/22 to f/8 and diameters ranging from 200mm to 1m

CIAO VIS key features 

• Simple add-on installation for ground-based telescopes with apertures from f/22 to f/8 and diameters ranging from 200mm to 1m
• Compatible with VIS and SWIR operation
• Fast low-light Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor operating at 1kHz in the visible spectrum and even faster in SWIR
• Internal source enables quick and straightforward auto-calibration
• Adjustable tip-tilt off-axis ballpoint for precise optical alignment
• Mirror response time: 5ms
• Single-mode fiber holder for white light interferometry, spectroscopy, and FSO applications

CIAO SWIR key features

• 12×12 microlenses high performance HASO SWIR FAST wavefront sensor optimized for SWIR and high speed
• Corrects up to 40 modes thanks to piezo-electric deformable mirror
• Facilitates access to beam-splitter allowing to choose one adapted to you needs (dichroic function or split ratio)
• Integrates a source, making calibration & auto-check easier
• Is optimized for f/10 telescopes, but customization available for any f#
• Includes a high dynamic tip-tilt corrector to compensate large pointing errors
• Integrates an optimized fiber injector
• Works with dedicated software that includes auto-calibration and one button to start AO
• Has a negligible impact on polarization
• Optional user filter holder
• 0° to 90° installation

CIAO VIS – Example of Satellite Tracking with ONERA

CIAO SWIR – Satcom application : improving fiber injection in collaboration with Nokia

Due to air turbulence, the coupling efficiency in a single mode fiber is too low and variable to ensure a good coherent detection and thus decrease the channel bandwidth.

Thanks to CIAO SWIR, the probability of losing 10dB has been reduced by a factor of 100 under medium turbulence conditions.

See below with CIAO SWIR (right) and without (left).

Software