Calibrating the Next Generation of Adaptive Optics Systems

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We are entering the era of Extremely Large Telescopes (telescopes with primary mirrors greater than 20m in diameter), and in order to make the most of these massive machines, we will need to incorporate Adaptive Optics (AO) systems to compensate for turbulence in the atmosphere. AO on 10m class telescopes has come a long way in the past decade. Images from the ground are in some cases surpassing those coming from the Hubble Space Telescope. However, as these AO systems improve, new factors begin to limit their performance. One factor that is currently limiting some of the best AO systems is the quality of their calibration procedures. I propose to support three graduate students (co-supervised with other faculty from the University of Victoria Physics and Astronomy Department) over the next three years in order to tackle some specific challenges of calibrating the next generation of AO systems. In particular, the students will have access to the CFI-funded Raven Multi-Object AO (MOAO) technical and scientific demonstrator. Raven is being built in a partnership between the UVic AO Lab, NRC HIA, the Subaru Observatory in Hawaii, and the National Institute of Optics (INO) in Quebec. The goal of the project is to design and build the first scientifically useful MOAO system in Prof. Colin Bradley's UVic AO Lab, and then transport and use it on the Subaru telescope in Hawaii by 2014. Students who undertake the work of this proposal will explore "open loop" calibration techniques through a multi-tiered effort of simulation, lab experimentation, and deployment in Raven for on-sky tests. Students will have other opportunities to explore issues of AO calibration at HIA, where a multi-conjugate AO test bench is being built for the express purpose of learning how to best calibrate the Thirty Metre Telescope first light facility AO system, NFIRAOS. Students with this type of training will be highly desirable employees either in academia or in industry.