MELT: an optomechanical emulation testbench for ELT wavefront control and phasing strategy

Pfrommer, Thomas; Lewis, S.A.E.; Kosmalski, Johan; Penna, P. La; Frank, Christoph; Guidolin, I.; Lévêque, S.; Cheffot, Anne-Laure; Bonnet, Henri; Kornweibel, Nick; Spyromilio, J.

doi:10.1117/12.2313537

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The aim of this testbed is to demonstrate phasing under emulated adversarial conditions. Indeed its idea and purpose would be similar to the European Southern Observatory's Miniscule-ELT, or MELT (2). As a part of a proposal to build this testbed, RSAA have realised a concept design called Pocket-GMT.…”

Section: Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design concept for Pocket-GMT

Lingham¹,

Bouchez²,

Gers³

et al. 2020

Advances in Optical Astronomical Instrumentation 2019

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One of the main challenges for the new generation of extremely large telescopes (ELT) such as the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is apparent in their ability to phase the segments in their primary mirror. Due to the lack of viability of manufacturing enormous mirrors, these primary mirrors are composed of smaller segments, and therefore they must be phased. Prior to the full construction of GMT, there has been proposal to develop a small-scale laboratory testbed to reproduce elements of GMT's design, major disturbances, and control systems. This would serve to reduce the risk in cost and time prior to commissioning. The team at the Australian National University's (ANU) Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) have developed a design concept for such a miniature version, coined Pocket-GMT. Pocket-GMT is designed to simulate GMT's segmented primary mirror as well as introduce aberrations and distortions similar to what GMT will experience. This would present an opportunity to optimise the functionality of GMT's control software and wavefront sensors, and to demonstrate phasing within the laboratory prior to full-scale telescope implementation. Pocket-GMT would also be compatible with later GMT instrument prototypes, thus ensuring its usefulness going into the future.

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Section: Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%