The control system for the Keck Interferometer Nuller

Andrew J. Booth; M. Mark Colavita; Jean I. Garcia; Chris Koresko

doi:10.1117/12.664522

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28 June 2006 The control system for the Keck Interferometer Nuller

Andrew J. Booth, M. Mark Colavita, Jean I. Garcia, Chris Koresko

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Proceedings Volume 6268, Advances in Stellar Interferometry; 62681M (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.664522
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2006, Orlando, Florida , United States

Abstract

The Keck Interferometer links the two 10m Keck Telescopes located atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. It was the first 10m class, fully AO equipped interferometer to enter operation. Further, it is the first large interferometer to implement a nuller, whereby the on axis light from a bright point source (e.g. a star) can be removed interferometrically, allowing study of light from nearby, low contrast sources (e.g. exo-zodiacal dust). This paper describes the control system we have implemented to enable operation of the Keck interferometer nuller. We give a general overview of the control system, plus details of how control differs from the already implemented and operational, standard visibility science mode of the interferometer. The nuller is challenging in its requirements for control because of the necessary control precision and the complexity of the number of points of control. We have implemented some novel control methods to meet these requirements and we describe those here.

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Andrew J. Booth, M. Mark Colavita, Jean I. Garcia, and Chris Koresko "The control system for the Keck Interferometer Nuller", Proc. SPIE 6268, Advances in Stellar Interferometry, 62681M (28 June 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.664522

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