MRI: Development of wide-field adaptive optics at the Large Binocular Telescope using multi-laser guide beacons

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Adaptive Optics (AO) is a technique that allows astronomers to correct images received by a telescope for the distortions introduced by light passing through the earth's atmosphere. The technique has made significant advances in recent years and its use is increasing and becoming routine at most of the world's largest telescopes. Now that AO is robust and reliable, scientists and engineers are seeking to apply it to a wider field of view so that larger objects or clusters of objects can all be viewed with the same high resolution at once. Dr. Michael Hart, of the University of Arizona, is pursuing such a path for the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). The LBT employs two 8.4-meter mirrors on a common mount and is the largest optical telescope on a single mount in the world. It is poised to make new discoveries and the addition of wide-field AO will provide it with a unique capability. This wide field will be realized by employing several laser guide stars spread over the field of view of the LBT. By rapidly measuring the distortions of these guide stars over the field of view and correcting them with the LBT's adaptive secondary mirrors, high spatial resolution over a wide field will be achieved. With this capability, astronomers will be able, for the first time, to study the details of nearby faint stars as well as the most distant galaxies and quasars in the universe. This work is supported by NSF's Major Research Instrumentation program through the Division of Astronomical Sciences.