Current state-of-the-art adaptive optics (AO) provides ground-based,
diffraction-limited observations with high Strehl ratios (SR). However, a
detailed knowledge of the point spread function (PSF) is required to fully
exploit the scientific potential of these data. This is even more crucial for
the next generation AO instruments that will equip 30-meter class telescopes,
as the characterization of the PSF will be mandatory to fulfill the planned
scientific requirements. For this reason, there is a growing interest in
developing tools that accurately reconstruct the observed PSF of AO systems,
the so-called PSF reconstruction. In this context, a PSF-R service is a planned
deliverable for the MICADO@ELT instrument and our group is in charge of its
development. In the case of MICADO, a blind PSF-R approach is being pursued to
have the widest applicability to science cases. This means that the PSF is
reconstructed without extracting information from the science data, relying
only on telemetry and calibrations. While our PSF-R algorithm is currently
being developed, its implementation is mature enough to test performances with
actual observations. In this presentation we will discuss the reliability of
our reconstructed PSFs and the uncertainties introduced in the measurements of
scientific quantities for bright, on-axis observations taken with the SOUL+LUCI
instrument of the LBT. This is the first application of our algorithm to real
data. It demonstrates its readiness level and paves the way to further testing.
Our PSF-R algorithm is able to reconstruct the SR and full-width at half
maximum of the observed PSFs with errors smaller than 2% and 4.5%,
respectively. We carried out the scientific evaluation of the obtained
reconstructed PSFs thanks to a dedicated set of simulated observations of an
ideal science case.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. Proceeding of the SPIE conference Adaptive
Optics Systems VIII, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2022
(paper 12185-12). arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with
arXiv:2209.0156