ELT instrumentation for seeing-limited and AO-corrected observations: A comparison

The next generation of large ground-based optical and infrared telescopes will provide new challenges for designers of astronomical instrumentation. The varied science cases for these extremely large telescopes (ELTs) require a large range of angular resolutions, from near diffraction-limited performance via correction of atmospheric turbulence using adaptive optics (AO), to seeing-limited observations. Moreover, the scientific output of the telescopes must also be optimized with the consideration that, with current technology, AO is relatively ineffective at visible wavelengths, and that atmospheric conditions will often preclude high-performance AO. This paper explores some of the issues that arise when designing ELT instrumentation that operates across a range of angular resolutions and wavelengths. We show that instruments designed for seeing-limited or seeing-enhanced observations have particular challenges in terms of size and mass, while diffraction-limited instruments are not as straightforward as might be imagined.Comment: 8 pages, to appear in the SPIE proceedings "ELTs: Which Wavelengths?", from the Lund Symposium on occasion of Arne Ardeberg's retiremen

MAORY AO performances

The Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics RelaY (MAORY) should provide 30% SR in K band (50% goal) on half of the sky at the South Galactic Pole. Assessing its performance and the sensitivity to parameter variations during the design phase is a fundamental step for the engineering of such a complex system. This step, centered on numerical simulations, is the connection between the performance requirements and the Adaptive Optics system configuration. In this work we present MAORY configuration and performance and we justify theAdaptive Optics system design choices.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 1 table. SPIE conference Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 14 - 18 December 2020, digital foru

Status of the PSF Reconstruction Work Package for MICADO ELT

MICADO is a workhorse instrument for the ESO ELT, allowing first light capability for diffraction limited imaging and long-slit spectroscopy at near-infrared wavelengths. The PSF Reconstruction (PSF-R) Team of MICADO is currently implementing, for the first time within all ESO telescopes, a software service devoted to the blind reconstruction of the PSF. This tool will work independently of the science data, using adaptive optics telemetry data, both for Single Conjugate (SCAO) and Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) allowed by the MORFEO module. The PSF-R service will support the state-of-the-art post-processing scientific analysis of the MICADO imaging and spectroscopic data. We provide here an update of the status of the PSF-R service tool of MICADO, after successfully fulfilling the Final Design Review phase, and discuss recent results obtained on simulated and real data gathered on instruments similar to MICADO.Comment: to appear in the Proceedings 12185-149 of the SPIE conference Adaptive Optics Systems VIII, Astronomical Telescopes+Instrumentation 2022 Montreal, Quebec, Canada; 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 table; updated affiliation

MAORY for ELT: preliminary design overview

MAORY is one of the approved instruments for the European Extremely Large Telescope. It is an adaptive optics module, enabling high-angular resolution observations in the near infrared by real-time compensation of the wavefront distortions due to atmospheric turbulence and other disturbances such as wind action on the telescope. An overview of the instrument design is given in this paper

Simulations of AO for the E-ELT and its instruments

We present an overview of the latest simulation results obtained for the European Extremely Large Telescope's different Adaptive Optics systems. Different areas of the telescope and instruments are covered. Simulations showing how a single conjugated AO system can be used to detect a scalloping error is shown. We show that when the scalloping error modes are entered in the reconstruction modal basis, the DM shape can be used to estimate the scalloping error through a simple matrix vector multiply. Temporal averaging allows to get rid of the atmospheric noise on the scalloping measurement assuming a perfect “scalloping actuator” and to get a measurement accuracy of ~20nm rms. In a second part, we focus on a few results obtained on tomographic AO systems, like for example the sensitivity to the number of Deformable Mirrors and their pitch in multi-conjugate AO, and the impact of the outer scale of turbulence on Laser tomography AO