85 research outputs found
The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: photometric precision and ghost analysis
The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) is a first-light instrument for the
Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) that will be used to sample the corrected adaptive
optics field by NFIRAOS with a near-infrared (0.8 - 2.4 m) imaging camera
and Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS). In order to understand the science case
specifications of the IRIS instrument, we use the IRIS data simulator to
characterize photometric precision and accuracy of the IRIS imager. We present
the results of investigation into the effects of potential ghosting in the IRIS
optical design. Each source in the IRIS imager field of view results in ghost
images on the detector from IRIS's wedge filters, entrance window, and
Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector (ADC) prism. We incorporated each of these
ghosts into the IRIS simulator by simulating an appropriate magnitude point
source at a specified pixel distance, and for the case of the extended ghosts
redistributing flux evenly over the area specified by IRIS's optical design. We
simulate the ghosting impact on the photometric capabilities, and found that
ghosts generally contribute negligible effects on the flux counts for point
sources except for extreme cases where ghosts coalign with a star of
m2 fainter than the ghost source. Lastly, we explore the photometric
precision and accuracy for single sources and crowded field photometry on the
IRIS imager.Comment: SPIE 2018, 14 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables, Proceedings of SPIE
10702-373, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII,
10702A7 (16 July 2018
The Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: Data Reduction System
IRIS (InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph) is the diffraction-limited first light
instrument for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) that consists of a
near-infrared (0.84 to 2.4 m) imager and integral field spectrograph
(IFS). The IFS makes use of a lenslet array and slicer for spatial sampling,
which will be able to operate in 100's of different modes, including a
combination of four plate scales from 4 milliarcseconds (mas) to 50 mas with a
large range of filters and gratings. The imager will have a field of view of
3434 arcsec with a plate scale of 4 mas with many selectable
filters. We present the preliminary design of the data reduction system (DRS)
for IRIS that need to address all of these observing modes. Reduction of IRIS
data will have unique challenges since it will provide real-time reduction and
analysis of the imaging and spectroscopic data during observational sequences,
as well as advanced post-processing algorithms. The DRS will support three
basic modes of operation of IRIS; reducing data from the imager, the lenslet
IFS, and slicer IFS. The DRS will be written in Python, making use of
open-source astronomical packages available. In addition to real-time data
reduction, the DRS will utilize real-time visualization tools, providing
astronomers with up-to-date evaluation of the target acquisition and data
quality. The quicklook suite will include visualization tools for 1D, 2D, and
3D raw and reduced images. We discuss the overall requirements of the DRS and
visualization tools, as well as necessary calibration data to achieve optimal
data quality in order to exploit science cases across all cosmic distance
scales.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, 6 tables, Proceeding 9913-165 of the SPIE
Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 201
Thirty Meter Telescope Narrow Field InfraRed Adaptive Optics System Real-Time Controller Prototyping Results
Prototyping and benchmarking was performed for the Real-Time Controller (RTC) of the Narrow Field InfraRed Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS). To perform wavefront correction, NFIRAOS utilizes two deformable mirrors (DM) and one tip/tilt stage (TTS). The RTC receives wavefront information from six Laser Guide Star (LGS) Shack- Hartmann WaveFront Sensors (WFS), one high-order Natural Guide Star Pyramid WaveFront Sensor (PWFS) and multiple low-order instrument detectors. The RTC uses this information to determine the commands to send to the wavefront correctors. NFIRAOS is the first light AO system for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT).
The prototyping was performed using dual-socket high performance Linux servers with the real-time (PREEMPT_RT) patch and demonstrated the viability of a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware approach to large scale AO reconstruction. In particular, a large custom matrix vector multiplication (MVM) was benchmarked which met the required latency requirements. In addition all major inter-machine communication was verified to be adequate using 10Gb and 40Gb Ethernet. The results of this prototyping has enabled a CPU-based NFIRAOS RTC design to proceed with confidence and that COTS hardware can be used to meet the demanding performance requirements
The Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: Multi-tiered wavefront measurements and novel mechanical design
The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) will be the first light adaptive optics instrument on the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). IRIS is being built by a collaboration between Caltech, the University of California, NAOJ and NRC Herzberg. In this paper we present novel aspects of the Support Structure, Rotator and On-Instrument Wavefront Sensor systems being developed at NRC Herzberg. IRIS is suspended from the bottom port of the Narrow Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS), and provides its own image de-rotation to compensate for sidereal rotation of the focal plane. This arrangement is a challenge because NFIRAOS is designed to host two other science instruments, which imposes strict mass requirements on IRIS. As the mechanical design of all elements has progressed, we have been tasked with keeping the instrument mass under seven tonnes. This requirement has resulted in a mass reduction of 30 percent for the support structure and rotator compared to the most recent IRIS designs. To accomplish this goal, while still being able to withstand earthquakes, we developed a new design with composite materials. As IRIS is a client instrument of NFIRAOS, it benefits from NFIRAOS’s superior AO correction. IRIS plays an important role in providing this correction by sensing low-order aberrations with three On-Instrument Wavefront Sensors (OIWFS). The OIWFS consists of three independently positioned natural guide star wavefront sensor probe arms that patrol a 2-arcminute field of view. We expect tip-tilt measurements from faint stars within the IRIS imager focal plane will further stabilize the delivered image quality. We describe how the use of On-Detector Guide Windows (ODGWs) in the IRIS imaging detector can be incorporated into the AO correction. In this paper, we present our strategies for acquiring and tracking sources with this complex AO system, and for mitigating and measuring the various potential sources of image blur and misalignment due to properties of the mechanical structure and interface
The Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: motion planning with collision avoidance for the on-instrument wavefront sensors
The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) will be a first-light client instrument for the Narrow Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS) on the Thirty Meter Telescope. IRIS includes three configurable tip/tilt (TT) or tip/tilt/focus (TTF) On-Instrument Wavefront Sensors (OIWFS). These sensors are positioned over natural guide star (NGS) asterisms using movable polar-coordinate pick-ofi arms (POA) that patrol an approximately 2-arcminute circular field-of-view (FOV). The POAs are capable of colliding with one another, so an algorithm for coordinated motion that avoids contact is required. We have adopted an approach in which arm motion is evaluated using the gradient descent of a scalar potential field that includes an attractive component towards the goal configuration (locations of target stars), and repulsive components to avoid obstacles (proximity to adjacent arms). The resulting vector field is further modified by adding a component transverse to the repulsive gradient to avoid problematic local minima in the potential. We present path planning simulations using this computationally inexpensive technique, which exhibit smooth and efficient trajectories
The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: photometric characterization of anisoplanatic PSFs and testing of PSF-Reconstruction via AIROPA
The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) is a first-light instrument for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) that will be used to sample the corrected adaptive optics field by the Narrow-Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS) with a near-infrared (0.8 - 2.4 µm) imaging camera and integral field spectrograph. To better understand IRIS science specifications we use the IRIS data simulator to characterize relative photometric precision and accuracy across the IRIS imaging camera 34”x34” field of view. Because the Point Spread Function (PSF) varies due to the effects of anisoplanatism, we use the Anisoplanatic and Instrumental Reconstruction of Off-axis PSFs for AO (AIROPA) software package to conduct photometric measurements on simulated frames using PSF-fitting as the PSF varies in single-source, binary, and crowded field use cases. We report photometric performance of the imaging camera as a function of the instrumental noise properties including dark current and read noise. Using the same methods, we conduct comparisons of photometric performance with reconstructed PSFs, in order to test the veracity of the current PSF-Reconstruction algorithms for IRIS/TMT
The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: photometric characterization of anisoplanatic PSFs and testing of PSF-Reconstruction via AIROPA
The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) is a first-light instrument for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) that will be used to sample the corrected adaptive optics field by the Narrow-Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS) with a near-infrared (0.8 - 2.4 µm) imaging camera and integral field spectrograph. To better understand IRIS science specifications we use the IRIS data simulator to characterize relative photometric precision and accuracy across the IRIS imaging camera 34”x34” field of view. Because the Point Spread Function (PSF) varies due to the effects of anisoplanatism, we use the Anisoplanatic and Instrumental Reconstruction of Off-axis PSFs for AO (AIROPA) software package to conduct photometric measurements on simulated frames using PSF-fitting as the PSF varies in single-source, binary, and crowded field use cases. We report photometric performance of the imaging camera as a function of the instrumental noise properties including dark current and read noise. Using the same methods, we conduct comparisons of photometric performance with reconstructed PSFs, in order to test the veracity of the current PSF-Reconstruction algorithms for IRIS/TMT
Thirty Meter Telescope Narrow Field InfraRed Adaptive Optics System Real-Time Controller Prototyping Results
Prototyping and benchmarking was performed for the Real-Time Controller (RTC) of the Narrow Field InfraRed Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS). To perform wavefront correction, NFIRAOS utilizes two deformable mirrors (DM) and one tip/tilt stage (TTS). The RTC receives wavefront information from six Laser Guide Star (LGS) Shack- Hartmann WaveFront Sensors (WFS), one high-order Natural Guide Star Pyramid WaveFront Sensor (PWFS) and multiple low-order instrument detectors. The RTC uses this information to determine the commands to send to the wavefront correctors. NFIRAOS is the first light AO system for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT).
The prototyping was performed using dual-socket high performance Linux servers with the real-time (PREEMPT_RT) patch and demonstrated the viability of a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware approach to large scale AO reconstruction. In particular, a large custom matrix vector multiplication (MVM) was benchmarked which met the required latency requirements. In addition all major inter-machine communication was verified to be adequate using 10Gb and 40Gb Ethernet. The results of this prototyping has enabled a CPU-based NFIRAOS RTC design to proceed with confidence and that COTS hardware can be used to meet the demanding performance requirements
The Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: closed-loop adaptive optics while dithering
The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) is the first-light client instrument
for the Narrow Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS) on the Thirty
Meter Telescope (TMT). IRIS includes three natural guide star (NGS)
On-Instrument Wavefront Sensors (OIWFS) to measure tip/tilt and focus errors in
the instrument focal plane. NFIRAOS also has an internal natural guide star
wavefront sensor, and IRIS and NFIRAOS must precisely coordinate the motions of
their wavefront sensor positioners to track the locations of NGSs while the
telescope is dithering (offsetting the telescope to cover more area), to avoid
a costly re-acquisition time penalty. First, we present an overview of the
sequencing strategy for all of the involved subsystems. We then predict the
motion of the telescope during dithers based on finite-element models provided
by TMT, and finally analyze latency and jitter issues affecting the propagation
of position demands from the telescope control system to individual motor
controllers.Comment: 21 pages, 19 figures, SPIE (2018) 10707-4
The Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: advancing the data reduction system
Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) is the first light instrument for the
Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) that consists of a near-infrared (0.84 to 2.4
micron) imager and integral field spectrograph (IFS) which operates at the
diffraction-limit utilizing the Narrow-Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System
(NFIRAOS). The imager will have a 34 arcsec x 34 arcsec field of view with 4
milliarcsecond (mas) pixels. The IFS consists of a lenslet array and slicer,
enabling four plate scales from 4 mas to 50 mas, multiple gratings and filters,
which in turn will operate hundreds of individual modes. IRIS, operating in
concert with NFIRAOS will pose many challenges for the data reduction system
(DRS). Here we present the updated design of the real-time and post-processing
DRS. The DRS will support two modes of operation of IRIS: (1) writing the raw
readouts sent from the detectors and performing the sampling on all of the
readouts for a given exposure to create a raw science frame; and (2) reduction
of data from the imager, lenslet array and slicer IFS. IRIS is planning to save
the raw readouts for a given exposure to enable sophisticated processing
capabilities to the end users, such as the ability to remove individual poor
seeing readouts to improve signal-to-noise, or from advanced knowledge of the
point spread function (PSF). The readout processor (ROP) is a key part of the
IRIS DRS design for writing and sampling of the raw readouts into a raw science
frame, which will be passed to the TMT data archive. We discuss the use of
sub-arrays on the imager detectors for saturation/persistence mitigation,
on-detector guide windows, and fast readout science cases (< 1 second).Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, 6 tables, Proceeding 10707-112 of the SPIE
Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 201
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