Study of the transmitter antenna gain for intersatellite laser communications

The gain of a transmitter for intersatellite communications is closely related to the performance of all the links. We calculate the transmitter telescope's gain with the help of the rigorous scalar diffraction theory and equivalent optical layout method. Furthermore, a comparison is performed with the conventional imaging method. The results show that the stop inside the telescope can affect the gain of the telescope. Finally, the gain is calculated under the condition of the aberrations. We find that different aberrations cause different effects. (C) 2006 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.