Related papers: Measuring line-of-sight sodium density structure u…
We have developed and tested a novel method, based on LIDAR, of measuring the height and profile of the mesospheric sodium layer using a continuous wave laser. It is more efficient than classical LIDAR as the laser is on for 50% of the…
The first time simultaneous measurements of sodium column density and the absolute flux from a sodium laser guide star, created by a monochromatic 3 W cw laser, tuned to the peak of the sodium D2 hyperfine structure, were conducted at the…
Over the last few years increasing consideration has been given to the study of Laser Guide Stars (LGS) for the measurement of the disturbance introduced by the atmosphere in optical and near-infrared astronomical observations from the…
Large telescope's adaptive optics (AO) system requires one or several bright artificial laser guide stars to improve its sky coverage. The recent advent of high power sodium laser is perfect for such application. However, besides the output…
The brightness and height of the sodium laser guide star of adaptive optics could vary significantly due to the temporal dynamics of sodium column density and the mean height of sodium layer. To measure these dynamics, an independent sodium…
The performance of adaptive optics systems is partially dependant on the algorithms used within the real-time control system to compute wavefront slope measurements. We demonstrate use of a matched filter algorithm for the processing of…
Sodium Laser Guide Stars (LGSs) are elongated sources due to the thickness and the finite distance of the sodium layer. The fluctuations of the sodium layer altitude and atom density profile induce errors on centroid measurements of…
The Giant Magellan Telescope will use laser tomography adaptive optics to correct for atmospheric turbulence using artificial guide stars created in the sodium layer of the atmosphere (altitude ~95km). The sodium layer has appreciable…
Detailed knowledge of the mesopheric sodium layer characteristics is crucial to estimate and optimize the performance of Laser Guide Star (LGS) assisted Adaptive Optics (AO) systems. In this paper, we present an analysis of two sets of data…
We present an analytical derivation of the on-axis performance of Adaptive Optics systems using a given number of guide stars of arbitrary altitude, distributed at arbitrary angular positions in the sky. The expressions of the residual…
Context: Sodium laser guide stars (LGS) are about to enter a new range of laser powers. Previous theoretical and numerical methods are inadequate for accurate computations of the return flux and hence for the design of the next-generation…
Laser guide stars with adaptive optics allow astronomical image correction in the absence of a natural guide star. Single guide star systems with a star created in the earth's sodium layer can be used to correct the wavefront in the near…
We have constructed an analytical model to simulate the behavior of an adaptive optics system coupled with a sodium laser guide star. The code is applied to a 3.6-m and 8m class telescopes. The results are given in terms of Strehl ratio and…
We demonstrate the imaging capability of a frequency modulated continuous wave lidar based on a fiber bundle. The lidar constructs velocity and range images for hard targets at a rate of 60 Hz. The sensing range is up to 30 m with 20 mW of…
Spectroscopy has played the key role in revealing, and thereby understanding, the structure of atoms and molecules. A central drive in this field is the pursuit of higher precision and accuracy so that ever more subtle effects might be…
Segmented primary mirrors are indispensable to master the steady increase in spatial resolution. Phasing optics systems must reduce segment misalignments to guarantee the high optical quality required for astronomical science programs.…
The advent of the digital age has driven the development of coherent optical modems--devices that modulate the amplitude and phase of light in multiple polarization states. These modems transmit data through fiber optic cables that are…
Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics systems based on sodium Laser Guide Stars may exploit Natural Guide Stars to solve intrinsic limitations of artificial beacons (tip-tilt indetermination and anisoplanatism) and to mitigate the impact of the…
We are developing the Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics (LGS/AO188) system for the Subaru Telescope at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. This system utilizes a combination of an all-solid-state mode-locked sum-frequency generation (SFG) laser (1.7-GHz…
In this theoretical study, modulation techniques are developed to support the Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) mission. A CW lidar system using sine waves modulated by ML pseudo random noise codes is…