Giant segmented telescopes in general require in situ control of the figures of their hexagonal segments. The necessary inputs may be either direct, through surface measurements, or indirect, through measurements of the intersegment edge heights. We investigate the limitations on the indirect (edge height) control that follow from the geometrical properties of hexagonal surfaces and find that these may be substantial. In particular, there are many unmeasurable modes, which we construct and count systematically, and whose potential effect on the segment figure problem we discuss.

© 2009 Optical Society of America

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Citation lists with outbound citation links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Figure files are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Article level metrics are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

Related Journal Articles

• Pupil-size effects in fiber optic stellar interferometry (JOSAA)
• Analysis of measured photon returns from sodium beacons (JOSAA)
• Improving the accuracy of the caustic test (AO)
• Eyeglass. 1. Very Large Aperture Diffractive Telescopes (AO)
• Strehl Ratio and Modulation Transfer Function for Segmented Mirror Telescopes as Functions of Segment Phase Error (AO)

Related Conference Papers

• A "Polarization Fidelity" Tracking Mount Optical Geometry and Comparison with Az El Mount: Polarization and Transmission Modeling Using ZEMAX
• Schmidt-Like Spherical Aberration Corrector for Large Spectral Region Intended for the Space Optics
• Modified Offner Relay Systems for Future Adaptive Optical Telescopes
• Innovative optics for giant telescopes
• Fabrication of 6.5 m f/1.25 mirrors for the MMT and Magellan Telescopes