An optical model of the wide-field imaging interferometry testbed

Abstract

This paper describes computational results obtained with a high-fidelity optical model of the Wide-Field Imaging Interferometry Testbed (WIIT). The WIIT model includes imperfections inherent in the hardware testbed, such as deviations of the mirrors from their ideal shapes. Model interferograms (brightness in a detector pixel as a function of optical delay) are presented here for several representative test scenes "observed" with multiple interferometric baselines. The results match theoretical expectations and can be compared with real WIIT measurements to identify and characterize instrumental and environmental artifacts in our laboratory data, and to aid in the interpretation of those data.