Optical interferometry has been successful at achieving milliarcsecond resolution on bright stars. Imaging performance can improve greatly by increasing the number of baselines, which has motivated proposals to build large (~ 100 m) optical interfero
meters with tens to hundreds of telescopes. It is also desirable to adaptively correct atmospheric turbulence to obtain direct phased images of astrophysical sources. When a natural guide star is not available, we investigate the feasibility of using a modified laser-guide-star technique that is suitable for large diluted apertures. The method consists of using sub-sets of apertures to create an array of artificial stars in the sodium layer and collecting back-scattered light with the same sub-apertures. We present some numerical and laboratory simulations that quantify the requirements and sensitivity of the technique.
