Multi-conjugate Adaptive optics Demonstrator

Last updated

Multi-conjugate Adaptive optics Demonstrator (MAD) is an instrument that allowed the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope to observe celestial objects with most of the atmosphere's blurring removed. As with other adaptive optics systems, it works by performing real-time corrections to the atmospheric turbulence by means of computer-controlled deformable mirrors. Its particularity is the correction over a wider field of view than previous systems, which only used a single deformable mirror. [1] [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Large Binocular Telescope</span> Telescope for optical astronomy

The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) is an optical telescope for astronomy located on 10,700-foot (3,300 m) Mount Graham, in the Pinaleno Mountains of southeastern Arizona, United States. It is a part of the Mount Graham International Observatory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Active optics</span> Shaping technology for reflecting telescopes

Active optics is a technology used with reflecting telescopes developed in the 1980s, which actively shapes a telescope's mirrors to prevent deformation due to external influences such as wind, temperature, and mechanical stress. Without active optics, the construction of 8 metre class telescopes is not possible, nor would telescopes with segmented mirrors be feasible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adaptive optics</span> Technique used in optical systems

Adaptive optics (AO) is a technique of precisely deforming a mirror in order to compensate for light distortion. It is used in astronomical telescopes and laser communication systems to remove the effects of atmospheric distortion, in microscopy, optical fabrication and in retinal imaging systems to reduce optical aberrations. Adaptive optics works by measuring the distortions in a wavefront and compensating for them with a device that corrects those errors such as a deformable mirror or a liquid crystal array.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scanning laser ophthalmoscopy</span>

Scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO) is a method of examination of the eye. It uses the technique of confocal laser scanning microscopy for diagnostic imaging of the retina or cornea of the human eye.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giant Magellan Telescope</span> Telescope under construction in Chile

The Giant Magellan Telescope is a 25.4-meter, ground-based, extremely large telescope under construction at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert. Commissioning is anticipated in the early 2030s. Once complete, the Giant Magellan will be the largest Gregorian telescope ever built observing in optical and mid-infrared light. The telescope uses seven of the world’s largest mirrors to form a light collecting area of 368 square meters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wavefront</span> Locus of points at equal phase in a wave

In physics, the wavefront of a time-varying wave field is the set (locus) of all points having the same phase. The term is generally meaningful only for fields that, at each point, vary sinusoidally in time with a single temporal frequency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extremely Large Telescope</span> Major astronomical facility in Chile

The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is an astronomical observatory under construction. When completed, it will be the world's largest optical/near-infrared extremely large telescope. Part of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) agency, it is located on top of Cerro Armazones in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MMT Observatory</span> Part of the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory

The MMT Observatory (MMTO) is an astronomical observatory on the site of Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. The Whipple observatory complex is located on Mount Hopkins, Arizona, US in the Santa Rita Mountains. The observatory is operated by the University of Arizona and the Smithsonian Institution, and has a visitor center in nearby Amado, Arizona. The MMTO is the home of the MMT, which has a primary mirror 6.5 m in diameter. The name comes from the six smaller mirrors originally used before the single primary mirror was installed in 1998. The primary mirror has a special lightweight honeycomb design made by the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory. The MMT is housed in a building which allows the walls and roof around the telescope to be completely rolled back, allowing it to cool down very quickly in order to improve observation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Bear Solar Observatory</span> University-based astronomical facility

Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) is a university-based solar observatory in the United States. It is operated by New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). BBSO has a 1.6-meter (5.2 ft) clear-aperture Goode Solar Telescope (GST), which has no obscuration in the optical train. BBSO is located on the north side of Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains of southwestern San Bernardino County, California, approximately 120 kilometers (75 mi) east of downtown Los Angeles. The telescopes and instruments at the observatory are designed and employed specifically for studying the activities and phenomena of the Sun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. Donald Shane telescope</span>

The C. Donald Shane telescope is a 120-inch (3.05-meter) reflecting telescope located at the Lick Observatory in San Jose, California. It was named after astronomer C. Donald Shane in 1978, who led the effort to acquire the necessary funds from the California Legislature, and who then oversaw the telescope's construction. It is the largest and most powerful telescope at the Lick Observatory, and was the second-largest optical telescope in the world when it was commissioned in 1959.

In optics, tilt is a deviation in the direction a beam of light propagates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deformable mirror</span> Mirror whose surface can be deformed

Deformable mirrors (DM) are mirrors whose surface can be deformed, in order to achieve wavefront control and correction of optical aberrations. Deformable mirrors are used in combination with wavefront sensors and real-time control systems in adaptive optics. In 2006 they found a new use in femtosecond pulse shaping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope</span> Scientific facility at Haleakala Observatory in Hawaii, US

The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) is a scientific facility for studies of the Sun at Haleakala Observatory on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Known as the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) until 2013, it was named after Daniel K. Inouye, a US Senator for Hawaii. It is the world's largest solar telescope, with a 4-meter aperture. The DKIST is funded by National Science Foundation and managed by the National Solar Observatory. The total project cost is $344.13 million. It is a collaboration of numerous research institutions. Some test images were released in January 2020. The end of construction and transition into scientific observations was announced in November 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gemini Planet Imager</span> Imaging instrument for the Gemini South Telescope in Chile

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a high contrast imaging instrument that was built for the Gemini South Telescope in Chile. The instrument achieves high contrast at small angular separations, allowing for the direct imaging and integral field spectroscopy of extrasolar planets around nearby stars. The collaboration involved in planning and building the Gemini Planet imager includes the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), Dunlap Institute, Gemini Observatory, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (HIA), Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL), Lowell Observatory, SETI Institute, The Space Telescope Science Institute (STSCI), the University of Montreal, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), University of Georgia.

Boston Micromachines Corporation is a US company operating out of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Boston Micromachines manufactures and develops instruments based on MEMS technology to perform open and closed-loop adaptive optics. The technology is applied in astronomy, beam shaping, vision science, retinal imaging, microscopy, laser communications, and national defense. The instruments developed at Boston Micromachines include deformable mirrors, optical modulators, and retinal imaging systems, all of which utilize adaptive optics technology to enable wavefront manipulation capabilities which enhance the quality of the final image.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferrofluid mirror</span>

A ferrofluid mirror is a type of deformable mirror with a reflective liquid surface, commonly used in adaptive optics. It is made of ferrofluid and magnetic iron particles in ethylene glycol, the basis of automotive antifreeze. The ferrofluid mirror changes shape instantly when a magnetic field is applied. As the ferromagnetic particles align with the magnetic field, the liquid becomes magnetized and its surface acquires a shape governed by the equilibrium between the magnetic, gravitational and surface tension forces. Since any shapes can be produced by changing the magnetic field geometries, wavefront control and correction can be achieved.

ALPAO is a company which manufactures a range of adaptive optics products for use in research and industry, including deformable mirrors with large strokes, wavefront sensors, and adaptive optics loops. These products are designed for astronomy, vision science, microscopy, wireless optical communications, and laser applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goode Solar Telescope</span> Scientific facility in Big Bear Lake, California, U.S.

The Goode Solar Telescope (GST) is a scientific facility for studies of the Sun named after Philip R. Goode. It was the solar telescope with the world's largest aperture in operation for more than a decade. Located in Big Bear Lake; California, the Goode Solar Telescope is the main telescope of the Big Bear Solar Observatory operated by the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Initially named New Solar Telescope (NST), first engineering light was obtained in December 2008, and scientific observations of the Sun began in January 2009. On July 17, 2017, the NST was renamed in honor of Goode, a former, and founding director of NJIT's Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research and the principal investigator of the facility. Goode conceived, raised the funds, and assembled the team that built and commissioned the telescope, and it was the highest resolution solar telescope in the world (until the end of 2019) and the first facility class solar telescope built in the U.S. in a generation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Céline d'Orgeville</span> French optical engineer and astronomer

Céline d'Orgeville is a professor and instrument scientist at the Australian National University Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. She leads teams designing laser and optical systems for ground based astronomical telescopes. She is a Fellow of SPIE and the Astronomical Society of Australia.

Three-photon adaptive optics microscopy (3PAOM) is a technology that implements adaptive optics to correct wavefront aberrations produced by three-photon microscopy. This technique allows for significantly improved performance when compared to traditional confocal microscopy and two-photon microscopy.

References