Robert Johnson (Starfire Optical Range, AFRL/RDSE)
Keywords: Adaptive Optics
Abstract:
Adaptive optics systems can measure high-order aberrations using an artificial laser beacon without the need for a relatively bright object near the object being imaged. Unfortunately, tilt and focus measurements are difficult to obtain from a laser beacon. One solution is to use light from the object being imaged to measure tilt and focus.
Through analysis, I estimate the performance of using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor with 2 by 2 subapertures for measuring tilt and focus. Specifically, I discuss implementing this scheme for the sodium beacon adaptive optics upgrades to the Starfire Optical Range (SOR) 3.5 m telescope. I use wave-optics simulation tools to evaluate the performance of the tilt and focus sensor in the SOR sodium beacon system.
Date of Conference: September 16-19, 2008
Track: Adaptive Optics