Adaptive optics (AO) has significantly advanced high-resolution solar observations by mitigating atmospheric turbulence. However, traditional post-focal AO systems suffer from external configurations that introduce excessive optical surfaces, reduced light throughput, and instrumental polarization. To address these limitations, we propose an embedded solar adaptive optics telescope (ESAOT) that intrinsically incorporates the solar AO (SAO) subsystem within the telescope's optical train, featuring a co-designed correction chain with a single Hartmann-shack full-wavefront sensor (HS f-WFS) and a deformable secondary mirror (DSM). The HS f-WFS uses temporal-spatial hybrid sampling technique to simultaneously resolve tip-tilt and high-order aberrations, while the DSM performs real-time compensation through adaptive modal optimization. This unified architecture achieves symmetrical polarization suppression and high system throughput by minimizing optical surfaces. A 600 mm ESAOT prototype incorporating a 12×12 micro-lens array HS f-WFS and 61-actuator piezoelectric DSM has been developed and successfully conducted on-sky photospheric observations. Validations including turbulence simulations, optical bench testing, and practical observations at the Lijiang observatory collectively confirm the system's capability to maintain about λ/10 wavefront error during active region tracking. This architectural breakthrough of the ESAOT addresses long-standing SAO integration challenges in solar astronomy and provides scalability analyses confirming direct applicability to the existing and future large solar observation facilities.

A single-shot common-path phase-stepping radial shearing interferometer (RSI) is proposed for wavefront measurements. In the proposed RSI, three quarter-wave plates are used as phase shifters to produce four spatially separated phase-stepping fringe patterns that are recorded simultaneously by a single CCD camera. The proposed RSI can measure the wavefront under test in real-time, and it is also insensitive to environmental vibration due to its common-path structure. Experimentally the proposed RSI is applied to detect the distorted wavefronts generated by a liquid crystal spatial light modulator. The measured aberrations are in good agreement with that obtained with (by) a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor, indicating that the proposed RSI is a useful tool for wavefront measurements.

In a radial shearing interferometer, a portion of the test beam is magnified and used as the reference for the tested wavefront. However, the reference portion is always off center (lateral shear), which complicates the wavefront reconstruction. A modal method for solving this problem is presented here. This method uses orthogonal Zernike polynomials and its matrix formalism to calculate the Zernike coefficient of the wavefront under test. This approach has easier implementation, is better filtering, and has a more adaptive practical situation. The corresponding mathematical formula is deduced, and a computer simulation is also made to verify operation of the algorithm. The result of simulation analysis shows that the proposed method is correct and accurate.

Polarimeter by rotating polarizer is one of the well-known and classic division of time polarimeter (DoTP). It is generally acknowledged that this kind of polarimeter is time consuming for each measurement although it has simple, accurate and compact performances. In this paper we present a time-integration polarimeter by using a continuous rotating polarizer. The basic principle and the corresponding mathematical expressions are derived. Numeric analysis and experiments are also made in this paper. Experimental results validate the precision and feasibility of the proposed imaging polarization and state of polarization retrieve theory. The frame-frequency of polarization image is 80fps which is limited mainly by the speed of the photodetector in our experiments, and its maximum frame-frequency can achieve over 270fps in theory for some special applications. That may give this kind of classic polarimeter new attractive prospects and life.

For better understanding and forecasting of solar activity, high resolution observations for the Sun are needed. Therefore, the Chinese Large Solar Telescope (CLST) with a 1.8-m aperture is being built. The CLST is a classic Gregorian configuration telescope with an open structure, alt-azimuth mount, retractable dome, and a large mechanical de-rotator. The optical system with an all reflective design has a field of view of larger than 3 arc-min. The 1.8-m primary mirror is a honeycomb sandwich fused silica lightweight mirror with an ultra lower expansion material and active cooling. The adaptive optics system will be developed to provide the capability for diffraction-limited observations at visible wavelengths. The CLST design and development phase began in 2011 and 2012, respectively. We plan for the CLST’s start of commission to be in 2017. A multiwavelength tomographic imaging system, ranging from visible to near-infrared, is considered as the first light scientific instrument. The main system configuration and the corresponding postfocal instruments are described. Furthermore, the latest progress and current status of the CLST are also reported.