Rodolphe Conan

MAD the ESO multi-conjugate adaptive optics demonstrator

Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) is working on the principle to perform wide field of view atmospheric turbulence correction using many Guide Stars located in and/or surrounding the observed target. The vertical distribution of the atmospheric turbulence is reconstructed by observing several guide stars and the correction is applied by some deformable mirrors optically conjugated at different altitudes above the telescope. The European Southern Observatory together with external research institutions is going to build a Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics Demonstrator (MAD) to perform wide field of view adaptive optics correction. The aim of MAD is to demonstrate on the sky the feasibility of the MCAO technique and to evaluate all the critical aspects in building such kind of instrument in the framework of both the 2nd generation VLT instrumentation and the 100-m telescope OWL. In this paper we present the conceptual design of the MAD module that will be installed at one of the VLT unit telescope in Paranal to perform on-sky observations. MAD is based on a two deformable mirrors correction system and on two multi-reference wavefront sensors capable to observe simultaneously some pre-selected configurations of Natural Guide Stars. MAD is expected to correct up to 2 arcmin field of view in K band.

Optimized modal tomography in adaptive optics

The performance of modal Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics systems correcting a nite number of Zernike modes is studied using a second-order statistical analysis. Both natural and laser guide stars (GS) are considered. An optimized command matrix is computed from the covariances of atmospheric signals and noise, to minimize the residual phase variance averaged over the eld of view. An ecient way to calculate atmospheric covariances of Zernike modes and their projections is found. The modal covariance code is shown to reproduce the known results on anisoplanatism and the cone eect with single GS. It is then used to study the error of wave-front estimation from several o-axis GSs (tomography). With increasing radius of the GS constellation , the tomographic error increases quadratically at small , then linearly at larger when incomplete overlap of GS beams in the upper atmospheric layers provides the major contribution to this error, especially on low-order modes. It is demonstrated that the quality of turbulence correction with two deformable mirrors is practically independent of the conjugation altitude of the second mirror, as long as the command matrix is optimized for each conguration.

Object-oriented Matlab adaptive optics toolbox

Object-Oriented Matlab Adaptive Optics (OOMAO) is a Matlab toolbox dedicated to Adaptive Optics (AO) systems. OOMAO is based on a small set of classes representing the source, atmosphere, telescope, wavefront sensor, Deformable Mirror (DM) and an imager of an AO system. This simple set of classes allows simulating Natural Guide Star (NGS) and Laser Guide Star (LGS) Single Conjugate AO (SCAO) and tomography AO systems on telescopes up to the size of the Extremely Large Telescopes (ELT). The discrete phase screens that make the atmosphere model can be of infinite size, useful for modeling system performance on large time scales. OOMAO comes with its own parametric influence function model to emulate different types of DMs. The cone effect, altitude thickness and intensity profile of LGSs are also reproduced. Both modal and zonal modeling approach are implemented. OOMAO has also an extensive library of theoretical expressions to evaluate the statistical properties of turbulence wavefronts. The main design characteristics of the OOMAO toolbox are object-oriented modularity, vectorized code and transparent parallel computing. OOMAO has been used to simulate and to design the Multi-Object AO prototype Raven at the Subaru telescope and the Laser Tomography AO system of the Giant Magellan Telescope. In this paper, a Laser Tomography AO system on an ELT is simulated with OOMAO. In the first part, we set-up the class parameters and we link the instantiated objects to create the source optical path. Then we build the tomographic reconstructor and write the script for the pseudo-open-loop controller.

The eye of the beholder: designing the OWL

Preliminary requirements and possible technological solutions for the next generation of ground-based optical telescopes were laid down at ESO in 1998. Since then, a phase A study has been commissioned, the objective of which is to produce a conceptual design compatible, to the maximum possible extent, with proven technology, and establish realistic plans for detailed design, site selection, construction and operation for a 100-m class optical, diffraction-limited telescope. There was no doubt about how daunting such a challenge would be, but, somewhat surprisingly, it turns out to be firmly confined to adaptive optics concepts and technologies. The telescope itself appears to be feasible within the allocated budget and without reliance on exotic assumptions. Fabrication of key subsystems is fully within the reach of a properly engineered, industrialized process. A consolidated baseline is taking shape, and alternative system and subsystem solutions are being explored, strengthening the confidence that requirements could be met. Extensive development of wavefront measurement techniques enlarges the palette of solutions available for active wavefront control of a segmented, active telescope. At system level, ESO is developing enabling experiments to validate multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MAD for Multi-conjugate Adaptive optics Demonstrator) and telescope wavefront control (APE, for Active Phasing Experiment).

The giant magellan telescope laser tomography adaptive optics system

The Giant Magellan Telescope presents a unique optical design with seven 8.4 m diameter primary mirrors matched by seven adaptive secondary mirrors (ASM). The ASMs can be controlled in several dierent Adaptive Optics (AO) observing modes coupled to the telescope . One of these AO systems, the Laser Tomography Adaptive Optics (LTAO) system is currently in its preliminary design phase. The LTAO observing mode will provide a Strehl ratio in H band of at least 30% over more than 20% of the sky and an ensquared energy in K band of at least 40% in a 50 milli-arcsec spaxel over more than 50% of the sky. To achieve its performance requirements, the LTAO observing mode uses six 20W Laser Guide Stars (LGS) with six order-60x60 Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors. The LGSs are launched from three locations at the periphery of the telescope primaries. A natural guide star (NGS) is used separately to measure tip-tilt, focus and low-bandwidth-low-order aberrations, as well as telescope segment piston. An open-loop controlled deformable mirror corrects the o-axis NGS infrared wavefront. We give an update on the design of the LTAO WFSs, the LGS facility, the on-instrument wavefront sensors and the tomography and control algorithms.

Design of a truth sensor for the GMT laser tomography adaptive optics system

The GMT laser tomography adaptive optics (LTAO) system design has a truth sensor guiding on a natural guide star. The truth sensor is used to measure telescope segment piston errors and measure slowly varying non- common path aberrations. The challenge lies in measuring segment piston using faint natural guide stars and the wavefront delivered by the LTAO system. This requires a sensor that can make a direct phase measurement. It is demonstrated that an infrared, AO-corrected, unmodulated pyramid or roof wavefront sensor can make the required measurements at 10 Hz for stars brighter than magnitude 17 at H- or K-band.

Results of AO simulations for ELTs

The design and elaboration of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELT) with primary mirror from 20m to 100m face with many challenges: mechanical, optical, computational, etc. To benefit completely of the full potentiality of such facilities, an Adaptive Optics System (AOS) have also to be designed for these telescopes. For whole field--of--view compensation and full sky coverage, the new but promising Multi--Conjugated Adaptive Optics (MCAO) technique has to be envisaged. The first step towards the design of an MCAO system is the numerical simulation. This is the first challenge we have to face. The scale of AO simulations being imposed by the ratio (D/r0), the simulation requirements of a MCAOS for an ELT, in terms of computing power and memory available to store the data, reach and sometimes overcome the capacity of actual computers. In ESO, we have evaluated different hardware and software strategies to achieve MCAO simulations goals. Two codes have been developed to simulate MCAOS using an analytical and an end-to-end model. The goals and advantages/limitations of both approaches is shown. The hardware requirements for both methods is also given through the size of their largest matrices. And finally, results of hardware and software tests for MCAO simulations with PC--cluster and paralleled code are presented.

Wavefront outer scale and seeing measurements at San Pedro Mártir Observatory

The first measurements of the spatial coherence outer scale at the Observatorio Astronomico Nacional at San Pedro Martir (OAN-SPM) are reported along with long term seeing measurements. These parameters were measured with the Generalized Seeing Monitor and with a Dierential Image Motion Monitor. An instrumented mast was also used to mea- sure the structure constant of the refractive index C 2 in the first 15 m. Log-normal statistics were found for the seeing and for the outer scale, with median values of 0:92 00 and 27.0 m, respectively. The distribution of the outer scale values is similar to that found in other observatories around the world, suggesting that the presence of trees in the OAN-SPM do not aect the outer scale values. Correlation studies suggest that large values of the seeing and the outer scale are likely to occur when the wind blows from the SSW. Further studies are recommended to confirm this tendency.

Phase screens for astronomical multiconjugate adaptive optics: application to MAPS

In this paper, we review the salient facts for a range of available atmosphere emulation technologies, and in the framework of the ESO Multi-Conjugate-AO demonstrator project, aptly called MAD, we present our phase screen test results for silver-sodium ion-exchange, transmissive phase screens. We find (a) that the measured power spectrum of phase fluctuations is consistent with the input Von Karman spectrum and (b) that by tracking the best focus of ten spots formed by a silver-sodium ion-exchange micro-lens array, it was found that the wavelength dependence of 1.266μm of phase-shift is 1.5±2.5% relative to air in the wavelength range 550nm to 800μm. Additionally, we present our optical design and specifications for MAPS, the Multi-Atmospheric Phase screens and Stars instrument that will be used to test MAD before shipment to the VLT. It includes glass screens conjugate to the 0.25km, 3.0km, and 9.0km atmospheric layers above the telescope. We explain the reasoning behind the choice of pupil size and implications for phase screen proximity, footprint sizes, and wind speed gradients. Our design mimics the VLT Nasmyth F/15 focal plane in terms of plate scale, field of view, high Strehl, and field curvature.

GMT AO system requirements and error budgets in the preliminary design phase

Error budgets are an indispensable tool for assuring that project requirements can be and are being met. An error budget will typically include terms associated with subsystems which are being designed by different teams of engineers, and fabricated by different vendors. It is a useful tool at all levels of design since it provides a means to negotiate design trades in the broadest possible context. Error budgeting is in many ways fundamental to the mission of systems engineering and of course to the overall project success. In this paper we will describe the GMT Adaptive Optics System flow down requirements and their integration with their wavefront error budgets. We will focus on the GMT Adaptive Optics wavefront error budgets for the following observing modes: Natural Guide Star Adaptive, Laser Tomography Adaptive Optics and Ground Layer Adaptive Optics. Finally, a description of the error budgets and the close link between the error budgets and other parameter such as sky coverage, zenith angle, etc., will be discussed in this paper.