Performance analysis of the improved seeing limited mode for the Euro50

Mette Owner-Petersen, Alexander Gontcharov

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingPaper in conference proceedingpeer-review

    Abstract

    This paper presents an analysis of the point-spread functions (PSFs),which may be expected in the so-called improved seeing limited mode forthe Euro50 (Extremely large telescope with a 50 m aperture). This modecomprises adaptive control of the deformable secondary mirror of theaplanatic Gregorian telescope configuration using guide stars in a widefield. I may result in efficient compensation of turbulence-inducedwavefront distortion near the ground layer. The prime goal of theinvestigations has been to evaluate the performance, in particular thefull width at half maximum (FWHM) of the K-band PSFs, as a function ofboth the guide star field size and the outer scale of the atmosphericfluctuations. For this reason we have adopted a very simple guide starconfiguration consisting of a circular ring of homogeneously distributedstars. The PSFs are analyzed in the center of the ring. The atmosphereis implemented as the nine layer extended ORM atmosphere described inthe paper. One result of the investigations is that the FWHM of the PSFsis very sesitive to the size of the outer scale. For a layer-commonouter scale of 20 m, that is slightly less than half of the telescopediameter, the FWHM will stay close to the diffraction limit even for aguide star ring diameter of 10'. This makes the improved seeing limitedmode very well suited for a fiber-fed spectrograph located at the F/5Nasmyth focus of the Euro50.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationSecond Bäckaskog Workshop on Extremely Large Telescopes (Proceedings of the SPIE)
    EditorsArne L. Ardeberg, Torben Andersen
    PublisherSPIE
    Pages544-549
    Volume5382
    ISBN (Print)0-8194-5299-8
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2003

    Publication series

    Name
    Volume5382

    Subject classification (UKÄ)

    • Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

    Free keywords

    • seeing limited mode
    • Euro50 telescope
    • point spread function
    • K-band PSF
    • adaptive optic control system
    • deformable secondary mirror
    • aplanatic Gregorian telescope configuration
    • atmospheric turbulence
    • wavefront distortion
    • atmospheric fluctuations
    • guide star configuration
    • extended ORM atmosphere
    • fiber-fed spectrograph
    • astronomical telescope
    • atmospheric optics
    • FWHM
    • full width half maximum
    • homogeneously distributed stars
    • guide star ring diameter

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