Performance of a compact adaptive-optics system

The design of an adaptive-optics system for correction of a beam propagating through high-speed, unpredictable optical turbulence required the use of a robust controller rather than a conventional least-squares controller. We describe the 37-channel, 50-Hz adaptive-optical system and its performance (lambda/75 rms).     

Increase in the compensated field of view with a double-conjugate adaptive-optics system

We analyze and quantify the capabilities and limitations of a double-conjugate adaptive-optics system. In the proposed system the contribution of two turbulent layers is treated separately, with Rayleigh guide stars for the bottom layer, sodium guide stars for the top layer, and two adaptive mirrors conjugate to the respective layers. The system substantially increases the compensated field of view. We give calculated results for the estimated number of guide stars needed, the wave-front sensor, and the adaptive-mirror resolution. Simulation results are also presented, and the residual error remaining after correction in our proposed system is compared with a conventional single-adaptive-mirror system.     

Noise reduction in adaptive-optics imagery with the use of support constraints

The use of support constraints for noise reduction in images obtained with telescopes that use adaptive optics for atmospheric correction is discussed. Noise covariances are derived for these type of data, including the effects of photon noise and CCD read noise. The effectiveness of support constraints in achieving noise reduction is discussed in terms of these noise properties and in terms of the types of algorithms used to enforce the support constraint. Both a convex-projections and a cost-function minimization algorithm are used to enforce the support constraints, and it is shown with the use of computer simulations and field data that the cost-function algorithm results in artifacts in the reconstructions. The convex-projections algorithms produced mean-square-error decreases in the image domain of approximately 10% for high light levels but essentially no error decreases for low light levels. We emphasize images that are well resolved by the telescope and adaptive-optics system.     

Optimization of adaptive-optics systems closed-loop bandwidth settings to maximize imaging-system performance

We present the results of research aimed at optimizing adaptive-optics closed-loop bandwidth settings to maximize imaging-system performance. The optimum closed-loop bandwidth settings are determined as a function of target-object light levels and atmospheric seeing conditions. Our work shows that, for bright objects, the optimum closed-loop bandwidth is near the Greenwood frequency. However, for dim objects without the use of a laser beacon the preferred closed-loop bandwidth settings are a small fraction of the Greenwood frequency. In addition, under low light levels selection of the proper closed-loop bandwidth is more critical for achieving maximum performance than it is under high light levels. We also present a strategy for selecting the closed-loop bandwidth to provide robust system performance for different target-object light levels.     

Phasing the mirror segments of the Keck telescopes: the broadband phasing algorithm

To achieve its full diffraction limit in the infrared, the primary mirror of the Keck telescope (now telescopes) must be properly phased: The steps or piston errors between the individual mirror segments must be reduced to less than 100 nm. We accomplish this with a wave optics variation of the Shack-Hartmann test, in which the signal is not the centroid but rather the degree of coherence of the individual subimages. Using filters with a variety of coherence lengths, we can capture segments with initial piston errors as large as +/-30 microm and reduce these to 30 nm--a dynamic range of 3 orders of magnitude. Segment aberrations contribute substantially to the residual errors of approximately 75 nm.     

Results from the Pierre Auger Observatory

The southern part of the Pierre Auger Observatory located in Province of Mendoza, Argentina, is now completed and fully operational. Data are routinely recorded since 2004, even during the construction phase. It consists of a ground array of more than 1.600 water-Cherenkov detectors spread over an area of 3000 km², overlooked by 24 wide-angle fluorescence telescopes placed in four sites on the array boundary. Southern Observatory is taking data in hybrid mode making it the first hybrid detector for studying the origin and the nature of cosmic rays at extreme energies. Current characteristics of the observatory and recent results on primary cosmic ray spectrum, arrival directions and composition are presented.     

Phasing the mirror segments of the Keck telescopes II: the narrow-band phasing algorithm

In a previous paper, we described a successful technique, the broadband algorithm, for phasing the primary mirror segments of the Keck telescopes to an accuracy of 30 nm. Here we describe a complementary narrow-band algorithm. Although it has a limited dynamic range, it is much faster than the broadband algorithm and can achieve an unprecedented phasing accuracy of approximately 6 nm. Cross checks between these two independent techniques validate both methods to a high degree of confidence. Both algorithms converge to the edge-minimizing configuration of the segmented primary mirror, which is not the same as the overall wave-front-error-minimizing configuration, but we demonstrate that this distinction disappears as the segment aberrations are reduced to zero.     

Performance of the SRS vacuum system

At the Daresbury Laboratory of the Science and Engineering Research Council is the SRS, the world's first dedicated high energy synchrotron radiation source. The SRS has been described elsewhere¹⁻³ and is essentially a 2 GeV electron storage ring of about 30 m diameter and designed for an ultimate beam current of 1 A. It is over seven years since commissioning of the SRS started, during which time nine out of a possible twelve beam lines have been built and scheduled experiments have been running for over six years. This paper will describe the general performance of the vacuum system and the specific experience gained on the performance of various types of vacuum pumps and gauges.     

Statistics of intensity in adaptive-optics images and their usefulness for detection and photometry of exoplanets

This paper is an introduction to the problem of modeling the probability density function of adaptive-optics speckle. We show that with the modified Rician distribution one cannot describe the statistics of light on axis. A dual solution is proposed: the modified Rician distribution for off-axis speckle and gamma-based distribution for the core of the point spread function. From these two distributions we derive optimal statistical discriminators between real sources and quasi-static speckles. In the second part of the paper the morphological difference between the two probability density functions is used to constrain a one-dimensional, "blind," iterative deconvolution at the position of an exoplanet. Separation of the probability density functions of signal and speckle yields accurate differential photometry in our simulations of the SPHERE planet finder instrument.     

Light concentrators for the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

There is an important and growing class of elementary particle detectors which are characterized by a large sensitive volume (thousands of tonnes), very low radioactive backgrounds, and rely on the emission of light for particle detection. Water Cherenkov detectors come into this category; they have a large mass of water as the sensitive medium. Particles are detected when they interact with the water and produce Cherenkov light, so detection efficiency relies on having a huge light sensitive area at the periphery of the detector. The most cost-effective way of achieving this is by placing light concentrators on large photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). This paper describes the work carried out on light concentrators for the PMTs in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, a 1000 tonne heavy water Cherenkov detector. We discuss the advantages of using light concentrators, summarize the optical theory of non-imaging light concentration, and describe in detail the development and manufacture of the concentrators themselves.     

The Keck Array: A Multi Camera CMB Polarimeter at the South Pole

The Keck array is a new multi-camera Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarimeter. Each camera contains 256 polarization pairs of antenna-coupled transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers. We recently deployed three of five cameras at the geographic South Pole, and plan to deploy the final two cameras in early 2012. This new telescope is an ideal instrument to search for the primordial B-mode polarization signal imprinted in the CMB by inflationary gravitational waves. We will discuss the design of the detectors and receivers, the status of current observations, and report on progress toward upgrading the instrument with the full compliment of polarized receivers.     

The offline software framework of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is designed to unveil the nature and the origins of the highest energy cosmic rays. The large and geographically dispersed collaboration of physicists and the wide-ranging collection of simulation and reconstruction tasks pose some special challenges for the offline analysis software. We have designed and implemented a general purpose framework which allows collaborators to contribute algorithms and sequencing instructions to build up the variety of applications they require. The framework includes machinery to manage these user codes, to organize the abundance of user-contributed configuration files, to facilitate multi-format file handling, and to provide access to event and time-dependent detector information which can reside in various data sources. A number of utilities are also provided, including a novel geometry package which allows manipulation of abstract geometrical objects independent of coordinate system choice. The framework is implemented in C++, and takes advantage of object oriented design and common open source tools, while keeping the user side simple enough for C++ novices to learn in a reasonable time. The distribution system incorporates unit and acceptance testing in order to support rapid development of both the core framework and contributed user code.     

云南天文台1.2m望远镜的光学系统

云南天文台 1 .2 m地平式望远镜目前进行着两种天文光学工作 :在国家地震监测网络中心内的人造卫星激光测距站的建立及常规观测 ;国家高技术 86 3的 6 1单元自适应光学系统的建立。对望远镜光学系统和两类天文光学工作给予了介绍。     

Widening the effective field of view of adaptive-optics telescopes by deconvolution from wave-front sensing: average and signal-to-noise ratio performance

A fundamental problem of adaptive-optics systems is the very narrow corrected field of view that can be obtained because turbulence is extended in altitude throughout the atmosphere. The correctable field of view is of the order of 5-10 μrad at visible wavelengths and increases as the wavelength increases. Previous concepts to broaden the corrected field of view have been hardware oriented, requiring multiple wave-front sensor (WFS) measurements to control multiple deformable mirrors. We analyze the average and the signal-to-noise-ratio performance of an image measurement and postprocessing technique that uses simultaneous measurements of a short-exposure compensated image measured in an off-axis direction; an additional WFS measurement is taken in the off-axis direction. Results are presented for infinite-altitude WFS beacons driving both the WFS for the adaptive optics and the WFS looking in the off-axis direction, a variety of seeing and WFS light-level conditions, and off-axis angles from two to six times the isoplanatic angle. This technique improves the average effective transfer function out to a field angle of at least six times the isoplanatic angle while providing a higher signal-to-noise ratio in the spatial frequency domain.     

Experimental verification of dispersed fringe sensing as a segment phasing technique using the Keck telescope

Dispersed fringe sensing (DFS) is an efficient and robust method for coarse phasing of segmented primary mirrors (from one quarter of a wavelength to as much as the depth of focus of a single segment, typically several tens of microns). Unlike phasing techniques currently used for ground-based segmented telescopes, DFS does not require the use of edge sensors in order to sense changes in the relative heights of adjacent segments; this makes it particularly well suited for phasing of space-borne segmented telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope. We validate DFS by using it to measure the piston errors of the segments of one of the Keck telescopes. The results agree with those of the Shack-Hartmann-based phasing scheme currently in use at Keck to within 2% over a range of initial piston errors of +/-16 microm.     

Atmospheric turbulence characterization with the Keck adaptive optics systems. I. Open-loop data

We present a detailed investigation of different methods of the characterization of atmospheric turbulence with the adaptive optics systems of the W. M. Keck Observatory. The main problems of such a characterization are the separation of instrumental and atmospheric effects and the accurate calibration of the devices involved. Therefore we mostly describe the practical issues of the analysis. We show that two methods, the analysis of differential image motion structure functions and the Zernike decomposition of the wave-front phase, produce values of the atmospheric coherence length r0 that are in excellent agreement with results from long-exposure images. The main error source is the calibration of the wave-front sensor. Values determined for the outer scale L0 are consistent between the methods and with typical L0 values found at other sites, that is, of the order of tens of meters.     

Time calibration of the NEutrino Mediterranean Observatory (NEMO)

Large volume Cherenkov detectors are under construction or have been proposed for detection of astrophysical neutrinos under water or ice. In all such cases, the neutrinos are inferred from the detection of the Cherenkov light emitted by the charged leptons created in neutrino interactions inside or around the apparatus. The event reconstruction is thus based on charge and time measurements performed by a system of widely spaced optical sensors. The time calibration is a very delicate operation for such experiments, as it may directly affect the reconstruction efficiency and pointing capabilities of the apparatus. In this paper, we illustrate the systems under study for the km³-scale project NEMO (NEutrino Mediterranean Observatory), focusing on the implementations for the NEMO Phase-1 and Phase-2 prototyping campaigns.     

Characterization and Fabrication of the TES Arrays for the Spider, Keck and BICEP2 CMB Polarimeters

Spider, the Keck Array, and BICEP2 are projects to study the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). All three use large format arrays of antenna-coupled, membrane-isolated, transition edge sensors (TES’s). Although similar, each project requires its own set of device parameters, such as thermal conductance, time constants, and normal state resistances. We have perfected a fabrication process that achieves two primary objectives: (1) high device yields of 95% or greater, and (2) very low spreads in devices parameters. Currently our arrays are taking science data at the South Pole in both the BICEP2 and Keck array telescopes. The focal planes for Spider, a high altitude balloon mission, are on schedule for a 2012 deployment. An overview of fabrication and development is given as well as a snapshot of scientific data.