Jack Drummond (AFRL/DES), Steve Novotny (AFRL/DES), Craig Denman (AFRL/DES), Paul Hillman (AFRL/DES), John Telle (AFRL/DES, Mark Eickho (Boeing LTS), Robert Fugate (New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology)
Keywords: Adaptive Optics
Abstract:
Reviewing the now nearly five years worth of sodium laser guide star (LGS) measurements over the Starfire Optical Range (SOR), we present a comprehensive model to predict its brightness as a function of time of year and direction, taking into account the effect of the Earth’s magnetic field. Furthermore, by overlapping two lasers slightly offset in frequency we have enhanced the brightness of the LGS by a factor of 2 (and possibly more) over the simple sum of the two. The brightest LGS we have produced has been of V magnitude 4.5, one hundred times brighter than currently being produced at astronomical observatories.
Date of Conference: September 12-15, 2007
Track: Adaptive Optics