Related papers: The Three-Sided PyramidWavefront Sensor. I. Simula…

We present the results obtained with an end-to-end simulator of an Extreme Adaptive Optics (XAO) system control loop. It is used to predict its on-sky performances and to optimise the AO loop algorithms. It was first used to validate a…

Future large space telescopes will be equipped with adaptive optics (AO) to overcome wavefront aberrations and achieve high contrast for imaging faint astronomical objects, such as earth-like exoplanets and debris disks. In contrast to AO…

MAPS, MMT Adaptive optics exoPlanet characterization System, is the upgrade of legacy 6.5m MMT adaptive optics system. It is an NSF MSIP-funded project that includes (i) refurbishing of the MMT Adaptive Secondary Mirror (ASM), (ii) new high…

Dedicated 'Stage IV' observatories will soon observe the entire extragalactic sky, to measure the 'cosmic shear' distortion of galaxy shapes by weak gravitational lensing. To measure the apparent shapes of those galaxies, we present an…

In this paper, we describe Fourier-based Wave Front Sensors (WFS) as linear integral operators, characterized by their Kernel. In a first part, we derive the dependency of this quantity with respect to the WFS's optical parameters: pupil…

The use of Fourier methods in wave-front reconstruction can significantly reduce the computation time for large telescopes with a high number of degrees of freedom. However, Fourier algorithms for discrete data require a rectangular data…

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a new facility, extreme adaptive optics (AO), coronagraphic instrument, currently being integrated onto the 8-meter Gemini South telescope, with the ultimate goal of directly imaging extrasolar planets. To…

The Wide-field Spectroscopic Telescope (WST) is a proposed 12-meter segmented facility optimized for seeing limited observations in the visible and designed to operate both a high-multiplex multi-object spectrograph and a panoramic integral…

The main objective of the present project is to explore the viability of an adaptive optics control system based exclusively on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), making strong use of their parallel processing capability. In an…

In preparation of future Multi-Object Spectrographs (MOS) whose one of the major role is to provide an extensive statistical studies of high redshifted galaxies surveyed, the demonstrator Canary has been designed to tackle technical…

Over the past decade, the high-contrast observation of disks and gas giant planets around nearby stars has been made possible on ground-based instruments using extreme adaptive optics (XAO). While these facilities produce images with a…

Context . Initially designed to detect and characterise exoplanets, extreme adaptive optics (AO) systems open a new window onto the Solar System by resolving its small bodies. Nonetheless, their study remains limited by the accuracy of the…

The James Webb Space Telescope is orders of magnitude more sensitive than any other facility across the near to mid-infrared wavelengths. Many approved programs take advantage of its highly stable point spread function (PSF) to directly…

Future space telescopes with coronagraph instruments will use a wavefront sensor (WFS) to measure and correct for phase errors and stabilize the stellar intensity in high-contrast images. The HabEx and LUVOIR mission concepts baseline a…

Continuous wavefront sensing benefits space observatories in on-orbit optical performance maintenance. To measure the phase of a wavefront, phase retrieval is an attractive technique as it uses multiple point spread function (PSF) images…

In this article we show that the vector-Apodizing Phase Plate (vAPP) coronagraph can be designed such that the coronagraphic point spread functions (PSFs) can act as a wavefront sensor to measure and correct the (quasi-)static aberrations,…

Wavefront sensors have now become core components in the fields of metrology of optical systems, biomedical optics, and adaptive optics systems for astronomy. However, none of the designs used or proposed so far achieve simultaneously a…

ARGOS is the laser guide star ground layer adaptive optics system of the LBT. ARGOS is designed to bring a moderate but uniform reduction of the PSF size over a FoV as large as 4x4arcmin, allowing a significative increase of the science…

Laser guide stars (LGSs) have been deployed for the last 20-30 years in ground-based astronomical telescopes to overcome the limited sky coverage of classical adaptive optics (AO) systems. Unfortunately, slow altitude drifts of the sodium…

The Low Wind Effect (LWE) refers to a phenomenon that occurs when the wind speed inside a telescope dome drops below $3$m/s creating a temperature gradient near the telescope spider. This produces phase discontinuities in the pupil plane…