This thesis addresses high performance computing in Adaptive Optics (AO) simulation
and the development and demonstration of a prototype AO instrument for future
Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs). Adaptive Optics systems are used on astronomical
telescopes for correcting the blurring effects of atmospheric turbulence on incoming
starlight, improving image quality to that of the diffraction limit of the telescope.
Extremely Large Telescopes will have primary mirror diameters in the 20 - 40 m range,
driving the need for technology development in two key areas, among others: 1) adaptive
optics simulation, and 2) wide field adaptive optics (WFAO).
The Linear Adaptive Optics Simulator (LAOS) is at the forefront of adaptive optics
simulation, opening up the capability to simulate ELTs with integrated AO systems on a
single computer. This is computationally expensive and time consuming, and thus
simulator performance is very important and can determine the feasibility of simulating
such systems at all. Efforts were made to improve the existing LAOS performance and
bring a larger range of problem sizes and AO instrument concepts including WFAO into
the realm of possibility.
WFAO will take advantage of the larger light collection and spatial resolution capabilities
of ELTs. One WFAO instrument approach that addresses this is Multi-Object Adaptive
Optics (MOAO), which will provide localized correction around a number (5 - 40) of
selected science objects spread around the field of view, enabling extragalactic studies
otherwise very costly to implement with other WFAO techniques. However, there are
several risks that need to be retired. Many elements of an MOAO system, such as the use
of atmospheric tomography, MEMS mirrors, and woofer-tweeter control have all been
demonstrated to work in different lab settings and are included in advanced instrument
concepts. Open loop control, however, is perhaps the greatest risk to MOAO,
introducing unique requirements on the AO system. The Victoria Open Loop Testbed
(VOLT) serves as a demonstration of open loop control – both on-sky at the Dominion
Astrophysical Observatory's 1.2 m telescope and in the lab – to facilitate the future
development of MOAO. Our goal was to demonstrate open loop control with a simple
on-axis natural guide star testbed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/1375 |
| Date | 28 April 2009 |
| Creators | Fischer, Michael |
| Contributors | Bradley, Colin |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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