Concept and performance of multiple laser guide stars for 8-m-class telescopes

Elise Vernet-Viard; Norbert N. Hubin; Miska Le Louarn; Bernard Delabre; Guy J. Monnet; Andrei A. Tokovinin

doi:10.1117/12.390328

7 July 2000 Concept and performance of multiple laser guide stars for 8-m-class telescopes

Elise Vernet-Viard, Norbert N. Hubin, Miska Le Louarn, Bernard Delabre, Guy J. Monnet, Andrei A. Tokovinin

Proceedings Volume 4007, Adaptive Optical Systems Technology; (2000) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.390328
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2000, Munich, Germany

Abstract

In this paper, we describe a concept of multiple laser guide stars system based on tomographic reconstruction and multi- conjugate correction for 8-m class telescopes. We show that this type of adaptive optics (AO) systems can be considered as the next generation of AO systems for 8-m telescopes and represents a necessary intermediate step toward AO systems for Extremely Large Telescopes. Multiple guide stars allow to correct the cone effect which affects single LGS systems and prevents from going to wavelengths shorter than approximately 1 micrometer. With 4 LGS plus 1 NGS, it is expected that correction with a high Strehl can be obtained at least in the R and I bands, with an extended corrected field of view (FOV). An analytic AO model is used to assess the expected on-axis performance. Using recent results on 3D mapping of turbulence (i.e. tomography), we estimate the sky coverage of such a system. We also discuss the implications of a large corrected field of view on the system design: large wavefront sensor field, constrains on the optics and deformable mirrors, and size of the science detector. With an MCAO system, large telescopes would be able to observe faint extragalactic objects and wide crowded fields (2 arcmin) at the diffraction limit.

Citation Download Citation

Elise Vernet-Viard, Norbert N. Hubin, Miska Le Louarn, Bernard Delabre, Guy J. Monnet, and Andrei A. Tokovinin "Concept and performance of multiple laser guide stars for 8-m-class telescopes", Proc. SPIE 4007, Adaptive Optical Systems Technology, (7 July 2000); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.390328

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available