Adaptive optics using natural guide stars can produce images of amazing quality, but is limited to a small fraction of the sky due to the need for a relatively bright guidestar. Adaptive optics systems using a laser generated artifical reference can be used over a majority of the sky, but these systems have some attendant problems. These problems can be reduced by increasing the altitude of the laser return, and indeed a simple, single laser source focused at an altitude of 95 km on a layer of atmospheric sodium performs well for the current generation of 8-10 m telescopes. For future giant telescopes in the 20-30 m class, however, the errors due to incorrect atmospheric sampling and spot elongation will prohibit such a simple system from working.The system presented in this dissertation provides a solution to these problems. Not only does it provide the 6.5m MMT with a relatively inexpensive laser guide star system with unique capabilities, it allows research into solving many of the problems faced by laser guide star systems on future giant telescopes.The MMT laser guidestar system projects a constellation of five doubled Nd:YAG laser beams focused at a mean height of 25 km, with a dynamic refocus system that corrects for spot elongation and allows integrating the return from a 10 km long range gate. It has produced seeing limited spot sizes in ~1 arcsecond seeing conditions, and has enabled the first on-sky results of Ground Layer Adaptive Optics (GLAO).

We report contrast measurements of a sodium resonance guide star against the daylight sky when observed through a tuned magneto-optical filter (MOF). The guide star was created by projection of a laser beam at 589.16 nm into the mesospheric sodium layer and the observations were made with a collocated 1.5-m telescope. While MOFs are used with sodium light detecting and ranging systems during the day to improve the signalto- noise ratio of the measurements, they have not so far been employed with laser guide stars to drive adaptive optics (AO) systems to correct atmospherically induced image blur. We interpret our results in terms of the performance of AO systems for astronomy, with particular emphasis on thermal infrared observations at the next generation of extremely large telescopes now being built. (C) 2016 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

We report photometric measurements of a sodium resonance guide star against the daylight sky when observed through a tuned magneto-optical filter (MOF). The MOF comprises a sodium vapor cell in a kilogauss-level magnetic field between crossed polarizers and has a very narrow transmission profile at the sodium D-2 resonance of approximately 0.008 nm. Our observations were made with the 1.5 m Kuiper telescope on Mt. Bigelow, AZ, which has a separately mounted guide star laser projecting a circularly polarized single-frequency beam of approximately 6.5 W at 589.16 nm. Both the beam projector and the 1.5 m telescope were pointed close to zenith; the baseline between them is approximately 5 m. Measurements of the guide star were made on the morning of 2016 March 24 using an imaging camera focused on the beacon and looking through the full aperture of the telescope. The guide star flux was estimated at 1.20x10(6) photon/m(2)/s while at approximately 45 minutes after sunrise, the sky background through the MOF was 1100 photon/m(2)/s/arcsec(2). We interpret our results in terms of thermal infrared observations with adaptive optics on the next generation of extremely large telescopes now being built.

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L’ELT (Extremely Large Telescope), est un télescope de diamètre 39 m en cours de réalisation par l’Observatoire Européen Austral (ESO). Pour pouvoir tirer pleinement parti de sa taille, ses instruments seront équipés de systèmes d’Optique Adaptative (OA) qui compenseront la turbulence atmosphérique. Ces systèmes d’OA requièrent l’utilisation d’étoiles guides laser afin de maximiser la couverture du ciel. Les étoiles guides laser sont générées par laser accordé sur une résonance d’atome de sodium présents dans une couche d’une épaisseur de 10 km et située à environ 90 km d’altitude. Une étoile laser est donc un cylindre lumineux dans la haute atmosphère, allumé par la relaxation des atomes. L’analyse de front d’onde à l’aide de ces étoiles artificielles souffrent de limitations connues. De plus, sur un télescope de la taille de l’ELT, leur utilisation est compliquée par l’effet de perspective qui provoque un allongement de l’étoile guide lorsqu’elle est vue d’un point éloigné de son point de lancement au sol : le cylindre n’est plus vu par une section circulaire, mais sur le côté. Sur un télescope de 39m, l’élongation de l’étoile peut alors atteindre jusqu’à 20 secondes d’arc, à comparer avec le diamètre du cylindre qui est déterminé par la turbulence, soit de l’ordre d’une seconde d’arc. La variabilité de l’épaisseur, de l’altitude et de la distribution de densité de la couche de sodium ont alors un impact sur la mesure du front d’onde.L’étude de ce problème, qui porte à la fois sur les algorithmes de mesure et le design des analyseurs de front d’onde, a donné lieu à de nombreux travaux s’appuyant sur des simulations et des tests en laboratoire. Le but de cette thèse a été d’étudier cette question à l’aide de données expérimentales obtenues sur le ciel. Ces données ont été enregistrées grâce au démonstrateur d’OA CANARY, situé sur le télescope William Herschel sur l’île de la Palma aux Canaries. CANARY a été développé par le LESIA, en collaboration avec l’Université de Durham; le laser et son télescope d’émission ont été fournis et opéré par l’ESO. Lors de cette expérience, l'allongement extrême des étoiles laser qui sera observé sur l'ELT a été reproduit en plaçant le télescope d’émission à environ 40m du télescope William Herschel. Le front d'onde a ensuite été mesuré sur l’étoile laser allongée ainsi crée.Les travaux effectués pendant cette thèse ont consisté en la préparation de l’instrument et en particulier de l’analyseur de front d’onde de l’étoile laser, la réalisation des observations et le traitement des données résultant de ces dernières. L’analyse de ces données a permis de construire un budget d’erreur de la mesure de front d’onde sur étoile laser allongée. Grâce à ce budget d’erreur, les performances de différents algorithmes de mesure ont été comparées, ainsi que leur comportement face à la variabilité du profil de sodium et des conditions de turbulence. Enfin, différentes configurations d’analyseurs ont été extrapolées, ce qui a permis d’établir des limites sur leur design dans le cadre de l’ELT. / The ELT (Extremely Large Telescope) is a telescope whose diameter is 39 m currently under construction by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). In order to fully benefit from its size, ELT instruments will be equipped with Adaptive Optics (AO) systems to compensate the atmospheric turbulence. These AO systems require the use of Laser Guides Stars (LGS) in order to have as large a sky coverage as possible. LGS are generated using a laser tuned on a resonant frequency of sodium atoms contained in a layer approximately 90km high and 10 km thick. Therefore, a LGS is a luminous cylinder in the high atmosphere, lighted by sodium atoms relaxation. Wavefront sensing on these artificial stars suffers from known limitations. On a telescope the size of the ELT, their use is further complicated by the perspective effect which causes an elongation of the LGS when it is seen from a point distant from its launch position : the cylinder is no longer seen by its circular section, but on the side. On a 39m telescope, the elongation can reach up to 20 arcseconds, which is large compared to to the diameter of the cylinder determined by the turbulence, that is about 1 arcsecond. Variability of the thickness, height and density distribution of the sodium layer then have an impact on wavefront sensing. The study of this problem, which concerns both sensing algorithms and wavefront sensor design, has already been the subject of many work relying on simulations and laboratory experiments. This thesis aims at studying this question using experimental data obtained on sky. These data were acquired using the AO demonstrator CANARY, placed on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on the island of La Palma in the Canaries Island. CANARY was developed by LESIA in collaboration with Durham University; the laser and its launch telescope were supplied and operated by ESO. In this experiment, the extreme elongation of LGS as will be seen on the ELT was reproduced by placing the launch telescope 40 m away from the William Herschel Telescope. The wavefront was the measured on the elongated LGS thus created. The studies led during this thesis consisted in the preparation of the instrument and in particular the LGS Wavefront Sensor (WFS), the realisation of the observations and processing on the data obtained. Analysis of these data allowed to build an error breakdown of wavefront sensing on the elongated LGS. Thanks to this error breakdown, performances of different measurement algorithms where compared, as well as their behaviour according to the variability of the sodium profile and the turbulence conditions. Finally, different wavefront sensor designs were extrapolated which allowed to establish limits on their designs for the ELT.

This thesis presents a simulation of the control system for Laser Guide Star (LGS) wavefront sensing of the Narrow Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS) which will be the Adaptive Optics (AO) system on the Thirty Meter Telescope. The control system is multirate and combines data from multiple sources, both natural and artificial, to provide wavefront correction. Artificial guide stars are generated by exciting atoms in the mesospheric sodium (Na) layer. The characteristics of the Na layer have been examined; its variability, altitude and thickness will lead to false atmospheric turbulence measurements by AO systems integrated with Extremely Large Telescopes. A periodically updated constrained matched filter algorithm has been implemented in the control system simulation in order to gauge its ability to mitigate these effects. The control system has also been implemented on the University of Victoria LGS Test Bench which reproduces wavefront measurements as they will be made by several of the wavefront sensors of NFIRAOS. The simulation has provided insight into the stability of the proposed control system and allowed necessary improvements to be made. It has been shown to meet the requirements of stability over long term with fast convergence. The matched filter algorithm has been shown to effectively reject the Na layer fluctuations both in simulation and on the test bench.

L’étoile laser polychromatique (ELP) fournit la référence de phase à une optique adaptative (OA)pour corriger les surfaces d’onde turbulentes, y compris leur pente. L’ELP, générée dans la mésosphère parune excitation résonnante à deux photons du sodium, repose sur la déviation chromatique des images. Uneimagerie dans le visible devient possible, et est indispensable pour 80% des programmes astrophysiquesprioritaires de l'E-ELT.L’ELP requiert un écart-type des mesures de position 26 fois inférieur au cas classique. Cela m’a amené àétudier le projecteur laser interférométrique. J’ai mis au point un correcteur de base polychromatique pourégaliser la période des franges et un correcteur de phase pour compenser la réfraction atmosphérique. J’aiétudié l'optique de mesure des franges, et de séparation entre l'ELP et l’objet observé.La précision requise m’a conduit à étudier dans quelles conditions l’algorithme du maximum devraisemblance tend vers la borne de Cramér-Rao.J’ai également développé un modèle numérique de bout en bout pour simuler l’ELP depuis les lasersjusqu’à la mesure du rapport de Strehl. Je montre que pour un VLT, les rapports de Strehl sont supérieurs à40% à 500 nm sans étoile de référence, en prenant une OA qui aurait donné 50% instantané (Strehl depente : 80%). Une approche analytique valide ces résultats.Enfin, j’aborde l’application de l’ELP aux télécommunications interplanétaires et à la destruction des débrisorbitaux. / The polychromatic laser guide star (PLGS) provides adaptive optics (AO) with a phase referenceto correct corrugated wavefronts, including tip tilt. It relies on the chromatic dispersion of light returnedfrom the 2-photon resonant excitation of sodium in the mesosphere. Diffraction limited imaging in thevisible then becomes possible. This is mandatory for 80% of the prominent astrophysical cases for the EELT.A PLGS requires standard deviations of position measurements 26 times less than in classical cases. Thus Ihave studied the interferometric laser projector. I have designed a polychromatic base corrector to equalizethe fringe periods, a phase corrector to compensate atmospheric refraction and the optics for fringemeasurements and for keeping apart the PLGS from the science target images.The required accuracy leads me to study how the maximum likelihood algorithm approaches the Cramer-Rao bound.I have written an end-to-end code for numerical simulations of the PLGS, from the lasers to the Strehlmeasurement. I get for the VLT Strehl ratios larger than 40% at 500 nm if one uses an AO providing us a50% instantaneous Strehl (tip tilt Strehl : 80%). An analytical model validates these results.Finally I address the application of the PLGS to deep space communications and to space debris clearing.

We present an overview of the current and future adaptive optics systems at the LBTO along with the current and planned science instruments they feed. All the AO systems make use of the two 672 actuator adaptive secondary mirrors. They are (1) FLAO (NGS/SCAO) feeding the LUCI NIR imagers/spectrographs; (2) LBTI/AO (NGS/SCAO) feeding the NIR/MIR imagers and LBTI beam combiner; (3) the ARGOS LGS GLAO system feeding LUCIs; and (4) LINO-NIRVANA - an NGS/MCAO imager and interferometer system. AO performance of the current systems is presented along with proposed performances for the newer systems taking into account the future instrumentation.

We have harnessed the power of programmable photonics devices for an interferometric measurement technique. Laser interferometers are widely used for flow velocity measurements, since they offer high temporal and spatial resolutions. However, often optical wavefront distortions deteriorate the measurement properties. In principle, adaptive optics enables the correction of these disturbances. One challenge is to generate a suitable reference signal for the closed loop operation of the adaptive optics. An adaptive Mach Zehnder interferometer is presented to measure through a dynamic liquid-gas phase boundary, which can lead to a misalignment of the interfering laser beams. In order to generate the reference signal for the closed loop control, the Fresnel reflex of the phase boundary is used as Laser Guide Star (LGS) for the first time to the best of the authors’ knowledge. The concept is related to the generation of artificial stars in astronomy, where the light transmitted by the atmosphere is evaluated. However, the adaptive interferometric flow velocity measurements at real world experiments require a different concept, since only the reflected light can be evaluated. The used LGS allows to measure the wavefront distortions induced by the dynamic phase boundary. Two biaxial electromagnetically driven steering mirrors are employed to correct the wavefront distortions. This opens up the possibility for accurate flow measurements through a dynamic phase boundary using only one optical access. Our work represents a paradigm shift in interferometric velocity measurement techniques from using static to dynamic optical elements.