Related papers: WaveDriver: a Laser Guide Star AO System for HWO
The future large adaptive telescopes will trigger new constraints for the calibration of Adaptive Optics (AO) systems equipped with pre-focal Deformable Mirrors (DM). The image of the DM actuators grid as seen by the Wave-Front Sensor (WFS)…
Disturbances such as atmospheric turbulence and aero-optic effects lead to wavefront aberrations, which degrade performance in imaging and laser propagation applications. Adaptive optics (AO) provide a method to mitigate these effects by…
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…
Vast tunable optical components are realized based on dynamic reconfigurations of the incident wavefronts, such as beam steering and tunable lens. However, the dominant paradigm of current wavefront reconfiguration technologies relies on…
Robo-AO, a fully autonomous, laser guide star adaptive optics and science system, is being commissioned at Palomar Observatory's 60-inch telescope. Here we discuss the instrument, scientific goals and results of initial on-sky operation.
The optimal performance of adaptive optics systems can only be maintained if the wavefront reference is bright and compact. Experience has shown that both of these important criteria are remarkably difficult to achieve with laser guide…
Continuous wavefront sensing on future space telescopes allows relaxation of stability requirements while still allowing on-orbit diffraction-limited optical performance. We consider the suitability of phase retrieval to continuously…
An Adaptive secondary mirror (ASM) allows for the integration of adaptive optics (AO) into the telescope itself. Adaptive secondary mirrors, based on hybrid variable reluctance (HVR) actuator technology, developed by TNO, provide a…
With the LIGO announcement of the first direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs), the GW Astronomy was formally ushered into our age. After one-hundred years of theoretical investigation and fifty years of experimental endeavor, this…
The development of adaptive optics (AO) played a major role in modern astronomy over the last three decades. By compensating for the atmospheric turbulence, these systems enable to reach the diffraction limit on large telescopes. In this…
Atmospheric turbulence causes fluctuations in the local refractive index of air that accumulatively disturb a wave's phase and amplitude distribution as it propagates. This impairs the effective range of laser weapons as well as the…
We investigate the use of ultra-narrow band interference filters to enable daytime use of sodium laser guide star adaptive optics systems. Filter performance is explored using theoretical and vendor supplied filter transmission profiles, a…
We assess archival high-energy data for key stars on the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) Target Stars and Systems 2025 list, as stellar radiation is critical to shaping and interpreting planetary atmospheres. Using a sample of 98 nearby…
Combining large segmented space telescopes, coronagraphy and wavefront control methods is a promising solution to produce a dark hole (DH) region in the coronagraphic image of an observed star and study planetary companions. The thermal and…
The next generation of adaptive optics (AO) systems will require tomographic reconstruction techniques to map the optical refractive index fluctuations, generated by the atmospheric turbulence, along the line of sight to the astronomical…
The current state-of-the-art cosmic distance ladder requires three rungs--geometric distances, primary indicators, and Type Ia Supernovae--to achieve a 1% measurement of the Hubble constant $H_0$. The Habitable Worlds Observatory will have…
As we enter the era of TESS and JWST, instrumentation that can carry out radial velocity measurements of exoplanet systems is in high demand. We will address this demand by upgrading the UC Lick Observatory's 2.4-meter Automated Planet…
$\textbf{Fluidic Telescopes}$ | We present a conceptual framework for optically designing space-assembled telescopes whose primary mirror is formed $\textit{in situ}$ via the enabling, scale-invariant technology of fluidic shaping. In-space…
We study for the first time a three-dimensional octahedron constellation for a space-based gravitational wave detector, which we call the Octahedral Gravitational Observatory (OGO). With six spacecraft the constellation is able to remove…
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…