Adaptive optics compensation of atmospheric turbulence: the past, the present, and the promise

Robert K. Tyson

doi:10.1117/12.178008

29 June 1994 Adaptive optics compensation of atmospheric turbulence: the past, the present, and the promise

Robert K. Tyson

Proceedings Volume 2222, Atmospheric Propagation and Remote Sensing III; (1994) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.178008
Event: SPIE's International Symposium on Optical Engineering and Photonics in Aerospace Sensing, 1994, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

An overview of adaptive optics systems development is presented with emphasis on its power to compensate for atmospheric turbulence in imaging and laser propagation. A brief history from the conceptual thinking in the 1950s through laboratory implementation in the 1970s to practical reality in the 1990s will be covered. With ongoing research to solve the problem of atmospheric anisoplanatism, the use of artificial guide stars has become as a prominent point of discussion. The understanding of the artificial guide star phenomena and advances in laser technology are bringing systems from the research and technology development mode into systems with scientific utility. Conflicting technical limitations of guide star brightness, laser psoower, and compensation spatial frequency are traded to achieve the most scientific benefit with the least cost. a summary ore recent results from operating adaptive optics systems in observatories around the world will be followed by a brief look at the future promise of adaptive optics in the commercia sector, including requirements of mass market systems for the amateur astronomer.

Citation Download Citation

Robert K. Tyson "Adaptive optics compensation of atmospheric turbulence: the past, the present, and the promise", Proc. SPIE 2222, Atmospheric Propagation and Remote Sensing III, (29 June 1994); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.178008

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