Thesis (Ph. D., Electrical Engineering)--University of Idaho, April 2007. / Major professor: David Egolf. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 156-161). Also available online (PDF file) by subscription or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (M.S. in Astronautical Engineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Agrawal, Brij; Kim, Jae Jun. "December 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on January 27, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: MIMO control, Robust control, adaptive optics, segmented mirrors, flexible structures, space telescopes, Shack-Hartmann sensors, hybrid controller. Includes bibliographical references (p. 77). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 142-143).

High resolution imaging of wide fields has been a prerogative of space telescopes for decades. Multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) is a key technology for the future of ground-based astronomy, especially as we approach the era of ELTs, where the large apertures will provide diffraction limits that will significantly surpass even the James Webb Space Telescope. NFIRAOS will be the first light MCAO system for the Thirty Meter Telescope and to support its development I have worked on HeNOS, its test bench integrated in Victoria at NRC Herzberg. I have aligned the optics, tested the electronic hardware, calibrated the subsystems (cameras, deformable mirrors, light sources, etc.) and characterized the system parameters. Development and support for future MCAO instruments also involves data analysis, a critical process in delivering the expected performance of any scientific instrument. To develop a strategy for optimal stellar photometry with MCAO, I have observed the Galactic globular cluster NGC 1851 with GeMS, the MCAO system on the 8-meter Gemini South telescope. From near-infrared images of this target in two bands, I have found the optimal parameters to employ in the profile-fitting photometry and calibration. As testimony to the precision of the results, I have obtained the deepest near-infrared photometry of a crowded field from the ground and used it to determine the age of the cluster with a method recently proposed that exploits the bend in the lower main sequence. The precise color-magnitude diagram also allows us to clearly observe the double subgiant branch for the first time from the ground, caused by the multiple stellar populations in the cluster. As the only facility MCAO system, GeMS is an important instrument that serves to illuminate the challenges of obtaining accurate photometry using such a system. By coupling the knowledge acquired from an instrument already on-sky with experiments in the lab on a prototype of a future system, I have addressed new challenges in photometry and astrometry, like the promising technique of point spread function reconstruction. This thesis informs the development of appropriate data processing techniques and observing strategies to ensure the ELTs deliver their full scientific promise over extended fields of view. / Graduate

Future generations of space-based telescopes will require increasingly large primary reflectors, with very tight optical-quality tolerances. However, as their size grow, it becomes more and more difficult to meet the requirements, due to the manufacturing complexity and the associated costs. Chapters 2 and 3 propose two concepts of Adaptive Optics deformable mirrors, intended to be used as secondary corrector to compensate for manufacturing errors, gravity release and thermal distortion of large lightweight primary mirrors of space telescopes: (i) A scalable segmented bimorph mirror, based on independent PZT patches glued on Silicon wafers, providing a large number of degrees of freedom, a low mass while overcoming the problem of a low resonance mode; and (ii) A monolithic bimorph mirror, controlled by an array of independent electrodes, done by laser ablation on a single PZT patch. The modelling, the control strategy and the technological aspects are described. The performances of the manufactured prototypes are demonstrated experimentally. These prototypes have been developed in the framework of the ESA project, Bimorph Adaptive Large Optical Mirror Demonstrator (BIALOM). Chapter 4 introduces alternative designs, allowing to face the thermal distortion inherent to the bimorph architecture. They are compared in terms of stroke, voltage budget and first resonance frequency. These designs are required to be controlled in both directions using only positive voltages. Finally, the last chapter explores the feasibility of the shape control of a small size active thin shell reflector (with double curvature). The prototype is intended to be a technology demonstrator of a future large and very light active primary reflector. The behavior of the shell is studied through numerical simulations, and a preliminary design is proposed. This investigation is carried out in the framework of the ESA project: Multilayer Adaptive Thin Shell Reflectors (MATS). / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

L'étude des exoplanètes et de leur atmosphère a connu une croissance fulgurante dans les deux dernières décennies. Les observations spectrophotométriques à partir d'observatoires spatiaux comme Hubble ont permis d'apporter certaines contraintes sur les phénomènes physiques et la composition de leur atmosphère, notamment grâce à la spectroscopie d'éclipse. Ces découvertes concernent généralement les planètes les plus favorables à cette technique, dont font partie les Jupiter chaudes. Cependant, les conclusions tirées à partir telles observations comportent leur lot de dégénérescences, causées par leur faible résolution spectrale, leur couverture restreinte en longueurs d'onde et leur précision photométrique limitée. Ces lacunes peuvent être corrigées en partie grâce à la complémentarité des spectrographes à haute résolution basés au sol ainsi qu'à l'aide du nouveau télescope spatial James Webb (JWST). Cette thèse présente, en premier lieu, une des premières analyses combinées d'observations spectrophotométriques prises avec l'instrument Wide Field Camera 3 de Hubble et d'observations à haute résolution avec l'instrument SPIRou (SpectroPolarimètre InfraRouge) du télescope Canada-France-Hawaï. Cette analyse avait pour cible le côté jour de la Jupiter ultra chaude WASP-33b, la deuxième exoplanète la plus chaude connue à ce jour. Aux températures se retrouvant dans l'atmosphère de WASP-33b, avoisinant les 3000 K, des molécules comme l'eau ne peuvent demeurer stables. Cependant, le CO, beaucoup plus résistant à la dissociation thermique, reste observable. Les données de SPIRou ont donc permis de confirmer la détection des raies d'émission du CO, en accord avec deux précédentes études. La combinaison avec les données de Hubble a aussi mené à l'obtention d'un premier estimé de son abondance avec un rapport de mélange volumique de logCO = -4.07 (-0.60) (+1.51). De plus, cette analyse a pu améliorer les contraintes sur la structure verticale en température et confirmer la présence d'une stratosphère. Des limites supérieures sur d'autres molécules comme l'eau, le TiO et le VO ont aussi pu être établies. En second lieu, un algorithme d'extraction spectrale intitulé ATOCA (Algorithme de Traitement d'Ordres ContAminés) est présenté. Celui-ci est dédié au mode d'observation SOSS (Single Object Slitless Spectroscopy) de l'instrument NIRISS (Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectrograph), la contribution canadienne à JWST. Ce mode d'observation couvre une plage de longueurs d'onde allant de 0,6 à 2,8 um simultanément grâce à la présence des deux premiers ordres de diffraction sur le détecteur. La nécessité d'un nouvel algorithme provient du fait que ces deux ordres générés par le « grisme » du mode SOSS se chevauchent sur une petite portion du détecteur. En conséquence, la région de l'ordre 1 couvrant les plus grandes longueurs d'onde (1,6–2,8 um) est contaminée par l'ordre 2 couvrant l'intervalle entre 0,85 et 1,4 um. ATOCA permet donc de décontaminer chacun des ordres en construisant d'abord un modèle linéaire de chaque pixel individuel du détecteur, en fonction du flux incident. Ce flux peut ensuite être extrait simultanément pour les deux ordres en comparant le modèle aux observations et en solutionnant le système selon un principe de moindres carrés. Ces travaux ont pu montrer qu'il est possible de décontaminer en dessous de 10 ppm pour chaque spectre individuel. / In the last decades, the research on exoplanets and their atmosphere has grown phenomenally. Space based observatories with spectrophotometric capabilities like Hubble allowed to put some constraints on the physical processes occuring in exoplanets’ atmosphere and their chemical composition. These discoveries concern mainly the hotter and larger planets, such as Hot Jupiters, which are the most favorable for atmospheric characterization. However, due to their low spectral resolution and their limited wavelength range and photometric accuracy, the scientific conclusions based on these observations can be degenerate. Some of these degeneracies can be lifted with the use of ground-based high-resolution spectrographs or the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). On the one hand, this thesis present one of the first analysis combining Hubble’s spectrosphometric data and high-resolution observations obtained with SPirou (SpectroPolarimètre InfraRouge) at the Canada-France-Hawai telescope. This analysis targeted the dayside of the Ultra Hot Jupiter WASP-33 b, the second-hottest exoplanet known to date. WASP-33 b atmosphere can reach temperatures high enough (≥ 3000 K) to dissociate molecules such as water. However, CO, which is much more resistant to thermal dissociation, remains observable. SPIRou’s observations allowed us to confirm the presence of CO emission lines in WASP-33 b emission spectrum, in agreement with two previous studies. With the addition of published Hubble data, we were able to push further and provide the first estimate CO abundance, with a volume mixing ratio of log10 CO = ≠4.07+1.51 ≠0.60. On the other hand, this thesis propose a new spectral extraction algorithm called ATOCA (Algorithm to Treat Order ContAmination) specifically designed for the SOSS (Single Object Slitless Spectroscopy) mode of the NIRISS instrument (Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectrograph), the Canadian contribution to JWST. This observing mode covers the wavelength range spaning from 0.6 to 2.8 µm simultaneously, due to the presence of the two first diraction orders on NIRISS detector. The need for a new algorithm arises from the fact that these orders, originating from SOSS “grism”, overlap on a small portion of the detector. Consequently, the region of order 1 covering the longest wavelengths (1.6–2.8 µm) is contaminated by the signal from order 2 between 0.85 and 1.4 µm. Hence, ATOCA allows to decontaminate both orders by first building a linear model of each individual pixel of the detector, with the incident flux as an independant variable. This flux is then extracted simultaneously for the two orders by comparing the model to the detector image and by solving the system for the best least square fit. This work has shown that ATOCA can reduce the contamination level below 10 ppm for each individual spectrum.