SciMeasure Wavefront Sensor Cameras and their Application in the Palomar Adaptive Optics System

DuVarney, Ray; Bleau, Charlie; Motter, Garry; Dekany, Richard; Troy, Mitchell; Brack, Gary L.

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-4361-5_39

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The reconfigurable approach, previously adopted for the Very Large Telescope NAOS system (Rousset et al 2003), allows performance optimization of PALM-3000 for NGSs spanning over 18 mag of brightness (Baranec & Dekany 2008). The Shack-Hartmann detector is a 128 × 128 pixel split frame transfer E2V CCD50 packaged into a SciMeasure Analytical Systems "Li'l Joe" controller head, a platform originally developed for PALM-241 (DuVarney et al 2000a). The camera pixels can be read out at multiple selectable rates which correspond to the full-frame readout rates, with corresponding read-noise values, presented in Table 3.…”

Section: Wavefront Sensormentioning

confidence: 99%

PALM-3000: EXOPLANET ADAPTIVE OPTICS FOR THE 5 m HALE TELESCOPE

Dekany

Roberts

Burruss

et al. 2013

ApJ

Self Cite

167

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We describe and report first results from PALM-3000, the second-generation astronomical adaptive optics (AO) facility for the 5.1 m Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory. PALM-3000 has been engineered for high-contrast imaging and emission spectroscopy of brown dwarfs and large planetary mass bodies at near-infrared wavelengths around bright stars, but also supports general natural guide star use to V ≈ 17. Using its unique 66 × 66 actuator deformable mirror, PALM-3000 has thus far demonstrated residual wavefront errors of 141 nm rms under ∼1 seeing conditions. PALM-3000 can provide phase conjugation correction over a 6. 4 × 6. 4 working region at λ = 2.2 μm, or full electric field (amplitude and phase) correction over approximately one-half of this field. With optimized back-end instrumentation, PALM-3000 is designed to enable 10 −7 contrast at 1 angular separation, including post-observation speckle suppression processing. While continued optimization of the AO system is ongoing, we have already successfully commissioned five back-end instruments and begun a major exoplanet characterization survey, Project 1640.

show abstract

Section: Wavefront Sensormentioning

confidence: 99%

PALM-3000: EXOPLANET ADAPTIVE OPTICS FOR THE 5 m HALE TELESCOPE

Dekany

Roberts

Burruss

et al. 2013

ApJ

Self Cite

167

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The LOWFS detector is an 80x80 frametransfer CCD that is widely used as the wavefront sensor for ground-based adaptive optics, such as the Palomar Adaptive Optics system. 44 The LOWFS includes a field stop, collimating lens, and lenslet array.…”

Section: Coronagraphmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coronagraphic imaging of debris disks from a high altitude balloon platform

Unwin

Traub

Bryden

et al. 2012

Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Debris disks around nearby stars are tracers of the planet formation process, and they are a key element of our understanding of the formation and evolution of extrasolar planetary systems. With multi-color images of a significant number of disks, we can probe important questions: can we learn about planetary system evolution; what materials are the disks made of; and can they reveal the presence of planets? Most disks are known to exist only through their infrared flux excesses as measured by the Spitzer Space Telescope, and through images measured by Herschel. The brightest, most extended disks have been imaged with HST, and a few, such as Fomalhaut, can be observed using ground-based telescopes. But the number of good images is still very small, and there are none of disks with densities as low as the disk associated with the asteroid belt and EdgeworthKuiper belt in our own Solar System. Direct imaging of disks is a major observational challenge, demanding high angular resolution and extremely high dynamic range close to the parent star. The ultimate experiment requires a space-based platform, but demonstrating much of the needed technology, mitigating the technical risks of a space-based coronagraph, and performing valuable measurements of circumstellar debris disks, can be done from a high-altitude balloon platform. In this paper we present a balloon-borne telescope concept based on the Zodiac II design that could undertake compelling studies of a sample of debris disks.

show abstract

“…The LOWFS detector is an 80x80 frame-transfer CCD that is widely used as the wavefront sensor for ground-based adaptive optics, such as the Palomar Adaptive Optics system. 50 The LOWFS includes a field stop, collimating lens, and lenslet array.…”

Section: Coronagraphmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zodiac II: debris disk science from a balloon

et al. 2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Zodiac II is a proposed balloon-borne science investigation of debris disks around nearby stars. Debris disks are analogs of the Asteroid Belt (mainly rocky) and Kuiper Belt (mainly icy) in our Solar System. Zodiac II will measure the size, shape, brightness, and color of a statistically significant sample of disks. These measurements will enable us to probe these fundamental questions: what do debris disks tell us about the evolution of planetary systems; how are debris disks produced; how are debris disks shaped by planets; what materials are debris disks made of; how much dust do debris disks make as they grind down; and how long do debris disks live? In addition, Zodiac II will observe hot, young exoplanets as targets of opportunity.The Zodiac II instrument is a 1.1-m diameter SiC telescope and an imaging coronagraph on a gondola carried by a stratospheric balloon. Its data product is a set of images of each targeted debris disk in four broad visiblewavelength bands. Zodiac II will address its science questions by taking high-resolution, multi-wavelength images of the debris disks around tens of nearby stars. Mid-latitude flights are considered: overnight test flights within the United States followed by half-global flights in the Southern Hemisphere. These longer flights are required to fully explore the set of known debris disks accessible only to Zodiac II. On these targets, it will be 100 times more sensitive than the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys (HST/ACS); no existing telescope can match the Zodiac II contrast and resolution performance. A second objective of Zodiac II is to use the near-space environment to raise the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of SiC mirrors, internal coronagraphs, deformable mirrors, and wavefront sensing and control, all potentially needed for a future space-based telescope for high-contrast exoplanet imaging.

show abstract

SciMeasure Wavefront Sensor Cameras and their Application in the Palomar Adaptive Optics System

Cited by 6 publications

References 8 publications

PALM-3000: EXOPLANET ADAPTIVE OPTICS FOR THE 5 m HALE TELESCOPE

PALM-3000: EXOPLANET ADAPTIVE OPTICS FOR THE 5 m HALE TELESCOPE

Coronagraphic imaging of debris disks from a high altitude balloon platform

Zodiac II: debris disk science from a balloon

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About