VLT laser guide star monitor facility: a feasibility study

Fernando Pedichini; Nancy Ageorges; Marc S. Sarazin

doi:10.1117/12.460056

7 February 2003 VLT Laser Guide Star Monitoring Facility: a feasibility study

Fernando Pedichini, Nancy Ageorges, Marc S. Sarazin

Proceedings Volume 4839, Adaptive Optical System Technologies II; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.460056
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2002, Waikoloa, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

The realtime knowledge of the altitude and optical characteristics of a generated Laser Guide Star may be necessary for an independent control of the performances of the associated adaptive optics system. For this ourpose a robotic laser guide star monitoring facility, based on a small telescope physically separated from the observatory has been studied, as a subsystem of the VLT LGS project. After reviewing the state of the art on sodium layer dynamical characteristics, we describe the rationale of the project and the main technical choices. Some particular aspects such as differential field motion and laser plume centroiding algorithms are reviewed in detail. The data processing architecture and the associated pipeline is described, and the expected performances are estimated.

Citation Download Citation

Fernando Pedichini, Nancy Ageorges, and Marc S. Sarazin "VLT Laser Guide Star Monitoring Facility: a feasibility study", Proc. SPIE 4839, Adaptive Optical System Technologies II, (7 February 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.460056

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