Large Binocular Telescope Adaptive Optics System: New achievements and perspectives in adaptive optics
Abstract
The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) is a unique telescope featuring two co-mounted optical trains with 8.4m primary mirrors. The telescope Adaptive Optics (AO) system uses two innovative key components, namely an adaptive secondary mirror with 672 actuators and a high-order pyramid wave-front sensor. During the on-sky commissioning such a system reached performances never achieved before on large ground-based optical telescopes. Images with 40mas resolution and Strehl Ratios higher than 80% have been acquired in H band (1.6 micron). Such images showed a contrast as high as 10e-4. Based on these results, we compare the performances offered by a Natural Guide Star (NGS) system upgraded with the state-of-the-art technology and those delivered by existing Laser Guide Star (LGS) systems. The comparison, in terms of sky coverage and performances, suggests rethinking the current role ascribed to NGS and LGS in the next generation of AO systems for the 8-10 meter class telescopes and Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs).
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1203.2761,
title = {Large Binocular Telescope Adaptive Optics System: New achievements and perspectives in adaptive optics},
author = {Simone Esposito and Armando Riccardi and Enrico Pinna and Alfio Puglisi and Fernando Quirós-Pacheco and Carmelo Arcidiacono and Marco Xompero and Runa Briguglio and Guido Agapito and Lorenzo Busoni and Luca Fini and Javier Argomedo and Alessandro Gherardi and Guido Brusa and Douglas Miller and Juan Carlos Guerra and Paolo Stefanini and Piero Salinari},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1203.2761},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
10 pages, 9 figures, Preented at SSPIE Optics + Photonics 2011, San Diego 20-25 August 2011