Optical technologies for extremely-large telescopes

超大望远镜的光学技术

• 批准号: 8275-2009
• 负责人: Hickson, Paul
• 金额: $ 1.97万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2010-01-01 至 2011-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=450263
• 关键词: Optical; technologies; extremely; large; telescopes

Future advances in our knowledge of the Universe will require new powerful telescopes on Earth and in space, with a resolution and sensitivity 10 to 100 times greater than present facilities. These telescopes, now being designed by astronomers and engineers worldwide, will achieve their power by a combination of large aperture and advanced technologies. One of these technologies, adaptive optics, is key to all future large ground-based telescopes because it can largely correct for the blurring effect of turbulence in the atmosphere. Next-generation AO systems will require high-powered lasers and sophisticated computer-controlled deformable mirrors. The lasers are used to illuminate sodium atoms, deposited by meteors in the upper atmosphere, in order to produce artificial "reference stars". The light from these sodium "stars" is needed to measure, and then correct for, the turbulence. To design these systems, we must first understand the structure of Earth's sodium layer. By combining a 6-metre liquid-mirror telescope with a sophisticated laser and detector system, my team has developed a sodium lidar (laser radar) that produces data of unsurpassed quality. My students and I will use this facility to study and better understand the structure and dynamics of this important region of the atmosphere, and provide knowledge essential for the development of extremely large telescopes.

未来我们对宇宙的了解将需要地球和太空中新型强大的望远镜，其分辨率和灵敏度比现有设施高 10 至 100 倍。 这些望远镜目前由世界各地的天文学家和工程师设计，将通过大口径和先进技术的结合来实现其威力。其中一项技术，即自适应光学技术，是未来所有大型地面望远镜的关键，因为它可以在很大程度上纠正大气中湍流的模糊效应。下一代 AO 系统将需要高功率激光器和复杂的计算机控制的变形镜。激光用于照射流星在高层大气中沉积的钠原子，以产生人造“参考星”。需要来自这些钠“恒星”的光来测量并校正湍流。为了设计这些系统，我们必须首先了解地球钠层的结构。通过将 6 米液体镜面望远镜与先进的激光和探测器系统相结合，我的团队开发出了钠激光雷达（激光雷达），可以产生无与伦比的质量数据。我和我的学生将利用这个设施来研究和更好地了解这一重要大气区域的结构和动力学，并为极大望远镜的开发提供必要的知识。