Advanced Wavefront Sensing Techniques for Next Generation Adaptive Optics Systems

加拿大已承诺提供资金，并且是30米望远镜的主要合作伙伴。完成后，TMT将迎来一个令人兴奋的光学和近红外天文学新时代。 为了充分利用TMT，我们需要采用自适应光学（AO）系统来补偿大气中的湍流。 TMT上的AO应该允许我们拍摄高分辨率图像和积分场光谱，从太阳系中的小行星，到其他恒星周围的行星，到围绕银河系中心黑洞运行的恒星，到在其他星系引力势中移动的恒星，到数十亿光年外的星系，因为它们存在于星星形成的高峰时期，以及早期宇宙中的“第一道光”物体。我们在NRC的小组非常积极地设计NFIRAOS，这是TMT的设施AO系统，也是加拿大的旗舰贡献之一。 我担任NFIRAOS项目科学家和NFIRAOS项目经理。 通过担任这些领导角色，我可以为学生和博士后提供一个独特的机会，为尖端的AO仪器做出贡献。 特别是，通过研究新的波前传感技术，由NSERC发现补助金支持的学生很好地为AO科学做出了重大贡献，并且在他们寻求未来的研究，学术或工业职业时，对雇主来说是非常可取的。除了我在NFIRAOS上的工作之外，我还负责管理NRC Herzberg的一个实验室，该实验室包含两个AO测试台。 其中一个工作台专门用于探索先进的波前传感器。 它的端口允许我们一次比较多达五个不同的波前传感器。 我们可以比较不同风格的波前传感器，包括夏克哈特曼，金字塔，焦平面和非线性曲率波前传感器的光学灵敏度，数据处理算法，校准方法和控制律。第二个实验台是NFIRAOS的缩小版，它将允许学生学习包括八个波前传感器的复杂系统的校准，并学习如何将这些波前传感器的测量结果混合以提供最佳校正。** 研究波前传感器的长期好处是显而易见的：现在所做的研究可以在八年内对NFIRAOS的性能产生直接影响。它还使我们的团队能够使用最先进的光学设备和算法。 通过保持这一优势，加拿大将处于有利地位，成为TMT和其他加拿大天文台下一代AO系统的主要合作伙伴。

Canada has committed funding and is a major partner of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). When completed, TMT will usher in a new, exciting era of optical and near-infrared astronomy. To make the most of TMT, we will need to incorporate Adaptive Optics (AO) systems to compensate for turbulence in the atmosphere. AO on TMT should allow us to take high resolution images and integral field spectroscopy of everything from asteroids in our solar system, to planets around other stars, to stars orbiting around the black hole in the center of our Galaxy, to stars moving in the gravitational potential of other galaxies, to galaxies billions of light years away as they exist in the era of peak star formation, and to “first-light” objects from the early Universe.******Our group at NRC is very active in designing NFIRAOS, the facility AO system for TMT and one of the flagship Canadian contributions. I serve as the NFIRAOS Project Scientist and NFIRAOS Project Manager. By serving in these leadership roles, I can provide students and postdocs a unique opportunity to contribute to a cutting edge AO instrument. In particular, by studying new wavefront sensing techniques, students supported by this NSERC Discovery Grant are well-placed for making significant contributions to AO science and will be highly desirable to employers as they seek future careers in research, academia or industry.******In addition to my work on NFIRAOS, I supervise a lab at NRC Herzberg that contains two AO test benches. One of these benches is dedicated to exploring advanced wavefront sensors. It has ports that allow us to compare up to five different wavefronts sensors at once. We can compare the optical sensitivity, data processing algorithms, calibration methods and control laws for different flavours of wavefront sensors including Shack-Hartmann, pyramid, focal plane and non-linear curvature wavefront sensors. The second bench is a scaled down version of NFIRAOS which will allow students to study the calibration of a complex system including eight wavefront sensors and learn how the measurements from these wavefront sensors can be blended to provide the optimal correction. ******The long term benefits of studying wavefront sensors is clear: Research done now can have direct impact on the performance of NFIRAOS in eight years. It also keeps our group working with the most cutting edge optical devices and algorithms available. By keeping that edge, Canada will be well-placed for being a major partner in the next generation of AO systems for TMT and other Canadian observatories.