Implementation and on-sky results of an optimal wavefront controller for the MMT NGS adaptive optics system

Keith B. Powell; Vidhya Vaitheeswaran

doi:10.1117/12.856590

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14 July 2010 Implementation and on-sky results of an optimal wavefront controller for the MMT NGS adaptive optics system

Keith B. Powell, Vidhya Vaitheeswaran

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Proceedings Volume 7736, Adaptive Optics Systems II; 773636 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856590
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The MMT observatory has recently implemented and tested an optimal wavefront controller for the NGS adaptive optics system. Open loop atmospheric data collected at the telescope is used as the input to a MATLAB based analytical model. The model uses nonlinear constrained minimization to determine controller gains and optimize the system performance. The real-time controller performing the adaptive optics close loop operation is implemented on a dedicated high performance PC based quad core server. The controller algorithm is written in C and uses the GNU scientific library for linear algebra. Tests at the MMT confirmed the optimal controller significantly reduced the residual RMS wavefront compared with the previous controller. Significant reductions in image FWHM and increased peak intensities were obtained in J, H and K-bands. The optimal PID controller is now operating as the baseline wavefront controller for the MMT NGS-AO system.

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Keith B. Powell and Vidhya Vaitheeswaran "Implementation and on-sky results of an optimal wavefront controller for the MMT NGS adaptive optics system", Proc. SPIE 7736, Adaptive Optics Systems II, 773636 (14 July 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856590

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