Preliminary design and plans for the GTC adaptive optics system

Nicholas Devaney; Dolores Bello; Bruno Femenia; Javier Castro; Alejandro Villegas Lopez; Marcos Reyes; Jesus J. Fuensalida

doi:10.1117/12.551638

25 October 2004 Preliminary design and plans for the GTC adaptive optics system

Nicholas Devaney, Dolores Bello, Bruno Femenia, Javier Castro, Alejandro Villegas Lopez, Marcos Reyes, Jesus J. Fuensalida

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5490, Advancements in Adaptive Optics; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.551638
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2004, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Abstract

The 10m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) is currently being installed in the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM) on the island of La Palma. An adaptive optics (AO) system will be installed at one of the Nasmyth foci of the telescope within a year of the telescope being commissioned. The preliminary design of the adaptive optics system is presented here. The system will initially be operated in single-conjugate mode using a natural guide star, but provisions are made for upgrade to dual-conjugate operation and the use of laser guide stars. The main system requirements and the optical and mechanical design solutions are outlined here. It is planned to employ a piezo-stack deformable mirror having approximately 350 actuators and a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. The tip-tilt correction will be provided by the secondary mirror of the GTC which is a lightweighted Beryllium mirror with a drive system capable of fast tip-tilt and chopping. In preparation for dual-conjugate operation we have studied the optimal altitude of the second deformable mirror (the first will be conjugate to the telescope pupil) using numerical simulations and measurements of turbulence obtained at the ORM. We have used the GSC II catalogue to determine sky-coverage for multi-natural guide star wavefront sensing, as required for dual-conjugate operation. In addition we have investigated a novel approach to multi-object wavefront sensing based on curvature sensing.

Citation Download Citation

Nicholas Devaney, Dolores Bello, Bruno Femenia, Javier Castro, Alejandro Villegas Lopez, Marcos Reyes, and Jesus J. Fuensalida "Preliminary design and plans for the GTC adaptive optics system", Proc. SPIE 5490, Advancements in Adaptive Optics, (25 October 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.551638

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