Calibrating the Next Generation of Adaptive Optics Systems

我们正在进入超大望远镜（主镜直径大于20米的望远镜）的时代，为了充分利用这些巨大的机器，我们需要结合自适应光学（AO）系统来补偿大气中的湍流。在过去的十年里，对1000万级望远镜的观测取得了长足的进步。在某些情况下，来自地面的图像超过了来自哈勃太空望远镜的图像。然而，随着这些AO系统的改进，新的因素开始限制它们的性能。目前限制一些最好的AO系统的一个因素是其校准程序的质量。我建议在未来三年内支持三名研究生（与维多利亚大学物理和天文系的其他教员共同监督），以解决校准下一代AO系统的一些具体挑战。特别是，学生们将有机会获得cfi资助的Raven多对象AO （MOAO）技术和科学演示器。Raven是由UVic AO实验室、NRC HIA、夏威夷斯巴鲁天文台和魁北克国家光学研究所（INO）合作建造的。该项目的目标是在Colin Bradley教授的UVic AO实验室设计和建造第一个科学上有用的MOAO系统，然后在2014年之前在夏威夷的斯巴鲁望远镜上运输和使用。承担本提案工作的学生将通过模拟、实验室实验和部署Raven进行空中测试的多层努力来探索“开环”校准技术。学生将有其他机会在HIA探索AO校准问题，HIA正在建造一个多共轭AO测试台，用于学习如何最好地校准30米望远镜第一光设施AO系统NFIRAOS。接受过此类培训的学生将成为学术界或工业界非常理想的员工。

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.