Management of equipment vibration for extremely large telescopes

Abstract

Management of equipment vibration will be a challenge for the upcoming generation of extremely large telescopes (ELTs) (GMT, TMT, and ESO's ELT) and is being dealt with proactively by all three projects. We document the approaches, techniques, and future efforts by all three ELTs in their attempts to manage vibration in their telescopes. We detail the approaches to developing component requirements, characterizing vibration sources, simulating telescope structural movements, and approaches to mitigating source vibrations. We illustrate the iterative approach taken by the three observatories with several examples of concrete processes, measurements, and other details of use to future observatories.