Palomar adaptive optics project: status and performance

Mitchell Troy; Richard G. Dekany; Gary L. Brack; Ben R. Oppenheimer; Eric E. Bloemhof; Thang Trinh; Frank G. Dekens; Fang Shi; Thomas L. Hayward; Bernhard Rainer Brandl

doi:10.1117/12.390302

7 July 2000 Palomar adaptive optics project: status and performance

Mitchell Troy, Richard G. Dekany, Gary L. Brack, Ben R. Oppenheimer, Eric E. Bloemhof, Thang Trinh, Frank G. Dekens, Fang Shi, Thomas L. Hayward, Bernhard Rainer Brandl

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 4007, Adaptive Optical Systems Technology; (2000) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.390302
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2000, Munich, Germany

Abstract

We describe the current performance of the Palomar 200 inch (5 m) adaptive optics system, which in December of 1998 achieved its first high order (241 actuators) lock on a natural guide star. In the K band (2.2 micrometer), the system has achieved Strehl ratios as high as 50% in the presence of 1.0 arcsecond seeing (0.5 micrometer). Predictions of the system's performance based on the analysis of real-time wavefront sensor telemetry data and an analysis based on a fitted Kolmogorov atmospheric model are shown to both agree with the observed science image performance. Performance predictions for various seeing conditions are presented and an analysis of the error budget is used to show which subsystems limit the performance of the AO system under various atmospheric conditions.

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Mitchell Troy, Richard G. Dekany, Gary L. Brack, Ben R. Oppenheimer, Eric E. Bloemhof, Thang Trinh, Frank G. Dekens, Fang Shi, Thomas L. Hayward, and Bernhard Rainer Brandl "Palomar adaptive optics project: status and performance", Proc. SPIE 4007, Adaptive Optical Systems Technology, (7 July 2000); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.390302

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