Status of the ARGOS project

Sebastian Rabien; Lothar Barl; Udo Beckmann; Marco Bonaglia; José Luis Borelli; Joar Brynnel; Peter Buschkamp; Lorenzo Busoni; Julian Christou; Claus Connot; Richard Davies; Matthias Deysenroth; Simone Esposito; Wolfgang Gässler; Hans Gemperlein; Michael Hart; Martin Kulas; Michael Lefebvre; Michael Lehmitz; Tommaso Mazzoni; Edmund Nussbaum; Gilles Orban de Xivry; Diethard Peter; Andreas Quirrenbach; Walfried Raab; Gustavo Rahmer; Jesper Storm; Julian Ziegleder

doi:10.1117/12.2055932

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21 July 2014 Status of the ARGOS project

Sebastian Rabien, Lothar Barl, Udo Beckmann, Marco Bonaglia, José Luis Borelli, Joar Brynnel, Peter Buschkamp, Lorenzo Busoni, Julian Christou, Claus Connot, Richard Davies, Matthias Deysenroth, Simone Esposito, Wolfgang Gässler, Hans Gemperlein, Michael Hart, Martin Kulas, Michael Lefebvre, Michael Lehmitz, Tommaso Mazzoni, Edmund Nussbaum, Gilles Orban de Xivry, Diethard Peter, Andreas Quirrenbach, Walfried Raab, Gustavo Rahmer, Jesper Storm, Julian Ziegleder

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Proceedings Volume 9148, Adaptive Optics Systems IV; 91481B (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055932
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2014, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

ARGOS is the Laser Guide Star and Wavefront sensing facility for the Large Binocular Telescope. With first laser light on sky in 2013, the system is currently undergoing commissioning at the telescope. We present the overall status and design, as well as first results on sky. Aiming for a wide field ground layer correction, ARGOS is designed as a multi- Rayleigh beacon adaptive optics system. A total of six powerful pulsed lasers are creating the laser guide stars in constellations above each of the LBTs primary mirrors. With a range gated detection in the wavefront sensors, and the adaptive correction by the deformable secondary’s, we expect ARGOS to enhance the image quality over a large range of seeing conditions. With the two wide field imaging and spectroscopic instruments LUCI1 and LUCI2 as receivers, a wide range of scientific programs will benefit from ARGOS. With an increased resolution, higher encircled energy, both imaging and MOS spectroscopy will be boosted in signal to noise by a large amount. Apart from the wide field correction ARGOS delivers in its ground layer mode, we already foresee the implementation of a hybrid Sodium with Rayleigh beacon combination for a diffraction limited AO performance.

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Sebastian Rabien, Lothar Barl, Udo Beckmann, Marco Bonaglia, José Luis Borelli, Joar Brynnel, Peter Buschkamp, Lorenzo Busoni, Julian Christou, Claus Connot, Richard Davies, Matthias Deysenroth, Simone Esposito, Wolfgang Gässler, Hans Gemperlein, Michael Hart, Martin Kulas, Michael Lefebvre, Michael Lehmitz, Tommaso Mazzoni, Edmund Nussbaum, Gilles Orban de Xivry, Diethard Peter, Andreas Quirrenbach, Walfried Raab, Gustavo Rahmer, Jesper Storm, and Julian Ziegleder "Status of the ARGOS project", Proc. SPIE 9148, Adaptive Optics Systems IV, 91481B (21 July 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055932

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