2,902 research outputs found
Calibration of quasi-static aberrations in exoplanet direct-imaging instruments with a Zernike phase-mask sensor. II. Concept validation with ZELDA on VLT/SPHERE
Warm or massive gas giant planets, brown dwarfs, and debris disks around
nearby stars are now routinely observed by dedicated high-contrast imaging
instruments on large, ground-based observatories. These facilities include
extreme adaptive optics (ExAO) and state-of-the-art coronagraphy to achieve
unprecedented sensitivities for exoplanet detection and spectral
characterization. However, differential aberrations between the ExAO sensing
path and the science path represent a critical limitation for the detection of
giant planets with a contrast lower than a few at very small
separations (<0.3\as) from their host star. In our previous work, we proposed a
wavefront sensor based on Zernike phase contrast methods to circumvent this
issue and measure these quasi-static aberrations at a nanometric level. We
present the design, manufacturing and testing of ZELDA, a prototype that was
installed on VLT/SPHERE during its reintegration in Chile. Using the internal
light source of the instrument, we performed measurements in the presence of
Zernike or Fourier modes introduced with the deformable mirror. Our
experimental and simulation results are consistent, confirming the ability of
our sensor to measure small aberrations (<50 nm rms) with nanometric accuracy.
We then corrected the long-lived non-common path aberrations in SPHERE based on
ZELDA measurements. We estimated a contrast gain of 10 in the coronagraphic
image at 0.2\as, reaching the raw contrast limit set by the coronagraph in the
instrument. The simplicity of the design and its phase reconstruction algorithm
makes ZELDA an excellent candidate for the on-line measurements of quasi-static
aberrations during the observations. The implementation of a ZELDA-based
sensing path on the current and future facilities (ELTs, future space missions)
could ease the observation of the cold gaseous or massive rocky planets around
nearby stars.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, A&A accepted on June 3rd, 2016. v2 after
language editin
On-sky wide field adaptive optics correction using multiple laser guide stars at the MMT
We describe results from the first astronomical adaptive optics system to use
multiple laser guide stars, located at the 6.5-m MMT telescope in Arizona. Its
initial operational mode, ground-layer adaptive optics (GLAO), provides uniform
stellar wavefront correction within the 2 arc minute diameter laser beacon
constellation, reducing the stellar image widths by as much as 53%, from 0.70
to 0.33 arc seconds at lambda = 2.14 microns. GLAO is achieved by applying a
correction to the telescope's adaptive secondary mirror that is an average of
wavefront measurements from five laser beacons supplemented with image motion
from a faint stellar source. Optimization of the adaptive optics system in
subsequent commissioning runs will further improve correction performance where
it is predicted to deliver 0.1 to 0.2 arc second resolution in the
near-infrared during a majority of seeing conditions.Comment: 13 pages, 1 table, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in
Astrophysical Journal. Expected March 200
Calibration of quasi-static aberrations in exoplanet direct-imaging instruments with a Zernike phase-mask sensor
Context. Several exoplanet direct imaging instruments will soon be in
operation. They use an extreme adaptive optics (XAO) system to correct the
atmospheric turbulence and provide a highly-corrected beam to a near-infrared
(NIR) coronagraph for starlight suppression. The performance of the coronagraph
is however limited by the non-common path aberrations (NCPA) due to the
differential wavefront errors existing between the visible XAO sensing path and
the NIR science path, leading to residual speckles in the coronagraphic image.
Aims. Several approaches have been developed in the past few years to
accurately calibrate the NCPA, correct the quasi-static speckles and allow the
observation of exoplanets at least 1e6 fainter than their host star. We propose
an approach based on the Zernike phase-contrast method for the measurements of
the NCPA between the optical path seen by the visible XAO wavefront sensor and
that seen by the near-IR coronagraph. Methods. This approach uses a focal plane
phase mask of size {\lambda}/D, where {\lambda} and D denote the wavelength and
the telescope aperture diameter, respectively, to measure the quasi-static
aberrations in the upstream pupil plane by encoding them into intensity
variations in the downstream pupil image. We develop a rigorous formalism,
leading to highly accurate measurement of the NCPA, in a quasi-linear way
during the observation. Results. For a static phase map of standard deviation
44 nm rms at {\lambda} = 1.625 {\mu}m (0.026 {\lambda}), we estimate a possible
reduction of the chromatic NCPA by a factor ranging from 3 to 10 in the
presence of AO residuals compared with the expected performance of a typical
current-generation system. This would allow a reduction of the level of
quasi-static speckles in the detected images by a factor 10 to 100 hence,
correspondingly improving the capacity to observe exoplanets.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures, A&A accepted, 2nd version after language-editor
correction
SAOLIM, a prototype of a low cost System for Adaptive Optics with Lucky Imaging
A prototype of a low cost Adaptive Optics (AO) system has been developed at
the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (CSIC) and tested at the 2.2m
telescope of the Calar Alto observatory. We present here the status of the
project, which includes the image stabilization system and compensation of high
order wavefront aberrations with a membrane deformable mirror. The image
stabilization system consists of magnet driven tip-tilt mirror. The higher
order compensation system comprises of a Shack-Hartmann sensor, a membrane
deformable mirror with 39 actuators and the control computer that allows
operations up to 420Hz in closed loop mode. We have successfully closed the
high order AO loop on natural guide stars. An improvement of 4 times in terms
of FWHM was achieved. The description and the results obtained on the sky are
presented in this paper.Comment: Accepted for publishing in PASP, 11 pages, 14 figures, 6 table
Curvature sensors: noise and its propagation
The signal measured with a curvature sensor is here analyzed. In the outset,
we derive the required minimum number of sensing elements at the pupil edges,
in dependence on the total number of sensing elements. The distribution of the
sensor signal is further characterized in terms of its mean, variance, kurtosis
and skewness. It is established that while the approximation in terms of a
gaussian distribution is correct down to fairly low photon numbers, much higher
numbers are required to obtain meaningful sensor measurements for small
wavefront distortions. Finally, we indicate a closed expression for the error
propagation factor and for the photon-noise induced Strehl loss.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Adaptive Optics Feature of JOSA
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