Françcois Rigaut,
Brent L. Ellerbroek,
and Malcolm J. Northcott
F. Rigaut is with the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Corporation, P.O. Box 1597, Kamuela, Hawaii 96743. USA
B. Ellerbroek is with the Starfire Optical Range, U.S. Air Force Phillips Laboratory, 3550 Aberdeen Boulevard Southeast, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico 87117. USA
M. Northcott is with the Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822. USA
Françcois Rigaut, Brent L. Ellerbroek, and Malcolm J. Northcott, "Comparison of curvature-based and Shack–Hartmann-based adaptive optics for the Gemini telescope," Appl. Opt. 36, 2856-2868 (1997)
We present the results of independent numerical simulations of adaptive
optics systems for 8-m astronomical telescopes that use both
Shack–Hartmann and wave-front curvature sensors. Four differents codes
provided consistency checks and redundancy. All four simulate a complete
system and model noise and servo-lag effects. A common atmospheric turbulence
generator was used for consistency. We present the main characteristics of the
codes, and we report the system performance in term of Strehl ratio and full
width at half-maximum versus the magnitude of the (on-axis) guide star. We show
that a Shack–Hartmann plus stacked actuator mirror system with 10
× 10 subapertures or a curvature plus bimorph mirror system with 56
subapertures yields a 50% Strehl ratio at 1.6 µm for a
mR =
14.7 magnitude star, with almost equivalent performance at both brighter and
dimmer light levels.
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mR is the magnitude in the R
band. The astronomical R band is centered on 0.7 µm
with a effective bandwidth of 0.22 µm. The count is given for the Gemini
aperture.
The value is for Mauna Kea, dark sky, at
zenith.
This includes atmosphere, telescope and
instrument transmission, and detector quantum efficiency (APD or
CCD).
This is the median free atmosphere for
seeing at Mauna Kea (see Ref. 3).
mR is the magnitude in the R
band. The astronomical R band is centered on 0.7 µm
with a effective bandwidth of 0.22 µm. The count is given for the Gemini
aperture.
The value is for Mauna Kea, dark sky, at
zenith.
This includes atmosphere, telescope and
instrument transmission, and detector quantum efficiency (APD or
CCD).
This is the median free atmosphere for
seeing at Mauna Kea (see Ref. 3).