NFIRAOS: the optical design of an adaptive optics system for the Thirty Meter Telescope

Jenny Atwood; Peter Byrnes; Glen Herriot

doi:10.1117/12.826769

17 September 2009 NFIRAOS: the optical design of an adaptive optics system for the Thirty Meter Telescope

Jenny Atwood, Peter Byrnes, Glen Herriot

Proceedings Volume 7439, Astronomical and Space Optical Systems; 74390G (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.826769
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2009, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

NFIRAOS (Narrow Field InfraRed Adaptive Optics System, pronounced nefarious) is the first light adaptive optics system for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). It is a near-IR, diffraction limited, multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) system that uses two deformable mirrors to correct aberrations due to atmospheric turbulence. The two arcminute field of view f/15 beam delivered by the telescope is relayed to one of three client instrument ports. Wavefront sensing is accomplished with six high order sodium laser guide star (LGS) wavefront sensors (WFSs) and three visible natural guide star (NGS) wavefront sensors. In this paper, we describe the general layout and design drivers of each optical system in NFIRAOS. The primary subsystems are the science path optics, the LGS wavefront sensors, the visible NGS truth WFSs, the IR acquisition camera and the calibration unit. Particular attention is given to the design of the LGS system, which uses all spherical components and a zoom system to compensate for aberrations and changes in distance to the sodium layer.

Citation Download Citation

Jenny Atwood, Peter Byrnes, and Glen Herriot "NFIRAOS: the optical design of an adaptive optics system for the Thirty Meter Telescope", Proc. SPIE 7439, Astronomical and Space Optical Systems, 74390G (17 September 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.826769

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