Mauna Kea ground-layer characterization campaign

We present the results of an 18-month study to characterize the optical turbulence in the boundary layer and in the free atmosphere above the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. This survey combined the Slope-Detection and Ranging (SLODAR) and Low-Layer SCIntillation Detection And Ranging (SCIDAR) (LOLAS) instruments into a single manually operated instrument capable of measuring the integrated seeing and the optical turbulence profile within the first kilometre with spatial and temporal resolutions of 40–80 m and 1 min (SLODAR) or 10–20 m and 5 min (LOLAS). The campaign began in the fall of 2006 and observed for roughly 50–60 h per month. The optical turbulence within the boundary layer is found to be confined within an extremely thin layer (≤80 m), and the optical turbulence arising within the region from 80 to 650 m is normally very weak. Exponential fits to the SLODAR profiles give an upper limit on the exponential scaleheight of between 25 and 40 m. The thickness of this layer shows a dependence on the turbulence strength near the ground, and under median conditions the scaleheight is <28 m. The LOLAS profiles show a multiplicity of layers very close to the ground but all within the first 40 m. The free-atmosphere seeing measured by the SLODAR is 0.42 arcsec (median) at 0.5 μm and is, importantly, significantly better than the typical delivered image quality at the larger telescopes on the mountain. This suggests that the current suite of telescopes on Mauna Kea is largely dominated by a very local seeing either from internal seeing, seeing induced by the flow in/around the enclosures, or from an atmospheric layer very close to the ground. The results from our campaign suggest that ground-layer adaptive optics can be very effective in correcting this turbulence and, in principle, can provide very large corrected fields of view on Mauna Kea.     

The Durham/ESO SLODAR optical turbulence profiler

An instrument for monitoring of the vertical profile of atmospheric optical turbulence strength, employing the Slope Detection and Ranging (SLODAR) double star technique applied to a small telescope, has been developed by Durham University and the European South Observatory. The system has been deployed at the Cerro Paranal observatory in Chile for statistical characterization of the site. The instrument is configured to sample the turbulence at altitudes below 1.5 km with a vertical resolution of approximately 170 m. The system also functions as a general-purpose seeing monitor, measuring the integrated optical turbulence strength for the whole atmosphere, and hence the seeing width. We give technical details of the prototype and present data to characterize its performance. Comparisons with contemporaneous measurements from a differential image motion monitor (DIMM) and a multi-aperture scintillation sensor (MASS) are discussed. Statistical results for the optical turbulence profile at the Paranal site are presented. We find that, in the median case, 49 per cent of the total optical turbulence strength is associated with the surface layer (below 100 m), 35 per cent with the 'free atmosphere' (above 1500 m) and 16 per cent with the intermediate altitudes (100–1500 m).     

Wide-field Adaptive Optics correction using a single rotating laser guide star

The problem of providing Adaptive Optics (AO) correction over a wide field of view is one that can be alleviated by using multiple conjugate AO (MCAO), or a low-altitude Laser Guide Star (LGS) that is projected to an altitude below any high layer turbulence. A low-altitude LGS can only sense wavefront distortions induced by low-altitude turbulence, which is dominated by a strong boundary layer at the ground. Sensing only the wavefront from this layer provides an AO system with a more spatially invariant performance over the telescope field of view at the expense of overall correction. An alternative method for measuring a ground-layer biased wavefront using a single rotating LGS is presented together with a numerical analysis of the wide-field performance of an AO system utilizing such a LGS. System performance in H and K bands is predicted in terms of system Strehl ratio, which shows that uniform correction can be obtained over fields of view of 200 arcsec in diameter. The simulations also show that the on-axis performance of a LGS utilizing Rayleigh backscattered light will be improved.     

Measurements of optical turbulence in the free atmosphere above Mount Maidanak in 2005–2007

We present the results of our 2005–2007 campaign to measure the vertical distribution of optical turbulence above Mount Maidanak. The measurements were performed with the MASS instrument, a multi-aperture scintillation sensor that has been widely used for such studies in recent years at many observatories worldwide. Analysis of the data shows that the median seeing in the free atmosphere (at an altitude of 0.5 km and higher) is 0 ″46, while the isoplanatic angle is 2″.47. Given the large time constant (about 7 ms at good seeing), such conditions are favorable for using adaptive optics and interferometric measurements in the visible and near-infrared spectral ranges.     

Implementation of an optimized Cassegrain system for radio telescopes

We present the antenna design for a radio interferometer, the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager, together with its beam pattern measurement. Our aim was to develop a low-cost system with high aperture efficiency and low ground spill across the frequency range 12–18 GHz. We use a modified Cassegrain system consisting of a commercially available paraboloidal primary mirror with a diameter of 3.7 m, and a shaped secondary mirror. The secondary mirror is oversized with respect to a ray optics design and has a surface that is bent towards the primary near its outer edge using a square term for the shaping. The antennas are simple to manufacture and therefore their cost is low. The design increased the antenna gain by approximately 10 per cent compared to a normal Cassegrain system while still maintaining low contamination from ground spill and using a simple design for the horn.     

Comparison of the atmosphere above the South Pole, Dome C and Dome A: first attempt

The atmospheric properties above three sites (Dome C, Dome A and the South Pole) on the Internal Antarctic Plateau are investigated for astronomical applications using the monthly median of the analyses from ECMWF (the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). Radiosoundings extended on a yearly time-scale at the South Pole and Dome C are used to quantify the reliability of the ECMWF analyses in the free atmosphere as well as in the boundary and surface layers, and to characterize the median wind speed in the first 100 m above the two sites. Thermodynamic instability properties in the free atmosphere above the three sites are quantified with monthly median values of the Richardson number. We find that the probability to trigger thermodynamic instabilities above 100 m is smaller on the Internal Antarctic Plateau than on mid-latitude sites. In spite of the generally more stable atmospheric conditions of the Antarctic sites compared to mid-latitude sites, Dome C shows worse thermodynamic instability conditions than those predicted above the South Pole and Dome A above 100 m. A rank of the Antarctic sites done with respect to the strength of the wind speed in the free atmosphere (ECMWF analyses) as well as the wind shear in the surface layer (radiosoundings) is presented.     

Solar GLAO and TAO:performance comparisons

Multi-conjugate adaptive optics(MCAO),consisting of several deformable mirrors(DMs),can significantly increase the adaptive optics(AO)correction field of view.Current MCAO can be realized by either star-oriented or layer-oriented approaches.For solar AO,ground-layer adaptive optics(GLAO)can be viewed as an extreme case of layer-oriented MCAO in which the DM is conjugated to the ground,while solar tomography adaptive optics(TAO)that we proposed recently can be viewed as star-oriented MCAO with only one DM.Solar GLAO and TAO use the same hardware as conventional solar AO,and therefore it will be important to see which method can deliver better performance.In this article,we compare the performance of solar GLAO and TAO by using end-to-end numerical simulation software.Numerical simulations of TAO and GLAO with different numbers of guide stars are conducted.Our results show that TAO and GLAO produce the same performance if the DM is conjugated to the ground,but TAO can only generate better performance when the DM is conjugated to the best height.This result has important application in existing one-DM solar AO systems.     

Improving the seeing with wide-field adaptive optics in the near-infrared

In this paper, we present simulation results of a ground-layer correction adaptive optics system (GLAO), based on four laser guide stars and a single deformable mirror. The goal is to achieve a seeing improvement over an 8-arcmin field of view, in the near-infrared (from 1.06 to 2.2 μm). We show results on the scaling of this system (number of subapertures, frame rates), and the required number of tip-tilt stars. We investigate the use for GLAO of both sodium and Rayleigh guide stars. We also show that if the lasers can be repositioned, the performance of the adaptive optics can be tailored to the astronomical observations.     

Development of a Lunar Scintillometer as part of the national large optical telescope site survey

Ground layer turbulence is a very important site characterization parameter used to assess the quality of an astronomical site. The Lunar Scintillometer is a simple and effective site-testing device for measuring the ground layer turbulence. It consists of a linear array of photodiodes which are sensitive to the slight variations in the moon’s brightness due to scintillation by the lower layers of the Earth’s atmosphere. The covariance of intensity values between the non-redundant photodiode baselines can be used to measure the turbulence profile from the ground up to a height determined by the furthest pair of detectors. The six channel lunar scintillometer that has been developed at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics is based closely on an instrument built by the team led by Andrei Tokovinin of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), Chile (Tokovinin et al., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 404(3), 1186–1196 2010). We have fabricated the instrument based on the existing electronic design, and have worked on the noise analysis, an EMI (Electromagnetic Induction) resistant PCB design and the software pipeline for analyzing the data from the same. The results from the instrument’s multi-year campaign at Mount Saraswati, Hanle is also presented.     

A Review of Daytime Atmospheric Optical Turbulence Profile Detection Technology

Atmospheric turbulence has been confirmed as the primary source affecting the quality of ground-based telescope image. To reduce the effect of atmosphere, a good site should be selected, and adaptive optics (AO) should be installed for the telescope. In general, the daytime atmospheric turbulence is more intense than that at night under the effect of solar radiation. Numerous solar telescopes have built AO systems worldwide. Conventional AO is only capable of improving the image quality in a small field of view, whereas it cannot satisfy the needs of a large field of view. The novel wide field adaptive optical system is capable of achieving a large field of view and high-resolution images, whereas the atmospheric turbulence profile should be accurately detected, which is the prerequisite and key parameter of the novel AO system. Moreover, the astronomical high-resolution technology in accordance with the turbulence imaging theory requires more detailed detection of turbulence. Accordingly, a brief review about the latest detection technology of the daytime optical turbulence profile is valuable for astronomical observations. Besides, the parameters of atmospheric turbulence are briefly introduced. Subsequently, SNODAR, SHABAR, MOSP, DIMM+, A-MASP, and other detection technologies of the stratified atmospheric turbulence for daytime are primarily presented, and the advantages and disadvantages of the different technologies are summarized.     

Meteorological conditions at the Caucasus Observatory of the SAI MSU from the results of the 2007–2015 campaign

Based on the measurements performed from 2007 to 2015 at the summit of Mount Shatdzhatmaz adjacent to the 2.5-m telescope at the Caucasus Observatory of the SAI MSU, we have determined the statistical characteristics of basic meteorological parameters: the ambient air temperature, the ground wind speed, and the relative humidity. The stability of these parameters over the entire period of our measurements and their variations within an annual cycle have been studied. The median temperature on clear nights is +3.2°C, although there are nights with a temperature below ?15°C. The typical ground wind speed is 3 m s^?1; the probability of a wind stronger than 10 m s^?1 does not exceed 2%. The losses of observing time due to high humidity are maximal in the summer period but, on the whole, are small over a year, less than 10%. We have estimated the absolute water vapor content in the atmosphere, which is especially important for infrared observations. Minimum precipitablewater vapor is observed in December–February; the median value over these months is 5 mm. We additionally provide the wind speeds at various altitudes above the ground (from 1 to 16 km) that we obtained when measuring the optical turbulence. We present the results and technique of our measurements of the annual amount of clear night astronomical time, which is, on average, 1320 h, i.e., 45% of the possible one at the latitude of the observatory. The period from mid-September to mid-March accounts for about 70% of the clear time. A maximum of clear skies is observed in November, when its fraction reaches 60% of the possible astronomical night time.     

Simultaneous seeing measurement through the Subaru Telescope in the visible and near-infrared bands for the wavelength dependence evaluation

Stellar images have been obtained under natural seeing at visible and near-infrared wavelengths simultaneously through the Subaru Telescope at Mauna Kea. The image quality is evaluated by the full-width at the half-maximum (FWHM) of the stellar images. The observed ratio of FWHM in the V-band to the K-band is 1.54 ± 0.17 on average. The ratio shows tendency to decrease toward bad seeing as expected from the outer scale influence, though the number of the samples is still limited. The ratio is important for simulations to evaluate the performance of a ground-layer adaptive optics system at near-infrared wavelengths based on optical seeing statistics. The observed optical seeing is also compared with outside seeing to estimate the dome seeing of the Subaru Telescope.     

Multi-aperture seeing profiler with multiple guide stars

The daytime atmospheric turbulence profile is crucial for the design of both optical systems and the control algorithm of a solar Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics(MCAO) system. The Multi-Aperture Seeing Profiler(MASP) is a portable instrument which can measure the daytime turbulence profile up to~30 km. It consists of two portable small telescopes that can deliver performance similar to a SolarDifferential Image Motion Monitor +(S-DIMM+) on a 1.0 m solar telescope. In the original design of MASP, only two guide stars are used to retrieve the turbulence profile. In this paper, we studied the usage of multiple guide stars in MASP using numerical simulation, and found that there are three main advantages.Firstly, the precision of the turbulence profile can be increased, especially at a height of about 15 km, which is important for characterizing turbulence at the tropopause. Secondly, the equivalent diameter of MASP can be increased up to 30%, which will reduce the cost and weight of the instruments. Thirdly, the vertical resolution of the turbulence profile near the ground increases with the help of multiple guide stars.     

Atmospheric and adaptive optics

Atmospheric optics is the study of optical effects induced by the atmosphere on light propagating from distant sources. Of particular concern to astronomers is atmospheric turbulence, which limits the performance of ground-based telescopes. The past two decades have seen remarkable growth in the capabilities and performance of adaptive optics (AO) systems. These opto-mechanical systems actively compensate for the blurring effect of the Earth’s turbulent atmosphere. By sensing, and correcting, wavefront distortion introduced by atmospheric index-of-refraction variations, AO systems can produce images with resolution approaching the diffraction limit of the telescope at near-infrared wavelengths. This review highlights the physical processes and fundamental relations of atmospheric optics that are most relevant to astronomy, and discusses the techniques used to characterize atmospheric turbulence. The fundamentals of AO are then introduced and the many types of advanced AO systems that have been developed are described. The principles of each are outlined, and the performance and limitations are examined. Aspects of photometric and astrometric measurements of AO-corrected images are considered. The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the challenges related to current and future AO systems, particularly those that will equip the next generation of large, ground-based optical and infrared telescopes.     

Upper thermal boundary layer of planetary atmosphere: An attempt of developing a general model

In any planetary atmosphere there is an uppermost layer in which the molecular thermal conduction is a significant mechanism of forming the thermal structure of the atmosphere. In this paper, the similarity approach is first used to develop the 1-D general model of aforementioned layer. The main concepts of the model are (i) the radiative equilibrium condition at the lower boundary of the layer and (ii) taking into account a single rovibrational band for radiative cooling of the layer. Five dimensionless parameters of the model characterize both “strengths” and altitudinal distributions of heat sources and sinks in the layer, including an effect of the atmosphere under the layer. By fitting the modeled temperature profile to the mean empirical profile, both the magnitudes of the parameters and the relations between them have been determined for the Earth and Mars. Distinctions between these planets in both the parameter magnitudes and relationships can be accounted for by distinction in composition of their atmospheres. For both planets the model shows weak sensitivity of the modeled temperature profile to significant changes in the state of the underlying atmosphere. The model demonstrates some prognostic capabilities. Namely, the fitting reveals presence of O in the martian thermosphere. (However, the fractional O abundance is overestimated.) From drag deceleration of the MGS orbiter the mean temperature profile of the martian thermosphere between 115 and 170 km has been derived for the solar zenith angle of 45°-70°, the solar longitude of 30°-80°, and the latitude range from −10° to 60°at a moderate level of solar activity.     

New challenges for adaptive optics: extremely large telescopes

The performance of an adaptive optics (AO) system on a 100-m diameter ground-based telescope working in the visible range of the spectrum is computed using an analytical approach. The target Strehl ratio of 60 per cent is achieved at 0.5 μm with a limiting magnitude of the AO guide source near R   magnitude~10, at the cost of an extremely low sky coverage. To alleviate this problem, the concept of tomographic wavefront sensing in a wider field of view using either natural guide stars (NGS) or laser guide stars (LGS) is investigated. These methods use three or four reference sources and up to three deformable mirrors, which increase up to 8-fold the corrected field size (up to 60 arcsec at 0.5 μm). Operation with multiple NGS is limited to the infrared (in the J band this approach yields a sky coverage of 50 per cent with a Strehl ratio of 0.2). The option of open-loop wavefront correction in the visible using several bright NGS is discussed. The LGS approach involves the use of a faint ( R ~22) NGS for low-order correction, which results in a sky coverage of 40 per cent at the Galactic poles in the visible.     

Adaptive optics parameters connection to wind speed at the Teide Observatory

Current projects for large telescopes demand a proper knowledge of atmospheric turbulence to design efficient adaptive optics systems in order to reach large Strehl ratios. However, the proper characterization of the turbulence above a particular site requires long-term monitoring. Because of the lack of long-term information on turbulence, high-altitude winds (in particular winds at the 200 mbar pressure level) were proposed as a parameter for estimating the total turbulence at a particular site, with the advantage of records of winds going back several decades. We present the first complete study of atmospheric adaptive optics parameters above the Teide Observatory (Canary Islands, Spain) in relation to wind speed. On-site measurements of   C ² _N ( h )  profiles (more than 20 200 turbulence profiles) from G-SCIDAR (Generalized Scintillation Detection and Ranging) observations and wind vertical profiles from balloons have been used to calculate the seeing, the isoplanatic angle and the coherence time. The connection of these parameters to wind speeds at ground and at 200 mbar pressure level are shown and discussed. Our results confirm the well-known high quality of the Canary Islands astronomical observatories.     

The FALCON concept: multi-object adaptive optics and atmospheric tomography for integral field spectroscopy – principles and performance on an 8-m telescope

Integral field spectrographs are major instruments with which to study the mechanisms involved in the formation and the evolution of early galaxies. When combined with multi-object spectroscopy, those spectrographs can behave as machines used to derive physical parameters of galaxies during their formation process. Up to now, there has been only one available spectrograph with multiple integral field units, i.e. FLAMES/GIRAFFE on the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT). However, current ground-based instruments suffer from a degradation of their spatial resolution due to atmospheric turbulence. In this article we describe the performance of FALCON, an original concept of a new-generation multi-object integral field spectrograph with adaptive optics for the ESO VLT. The goal of FALCON is to combine high angular resolution (0.25 arcsec) and high spectral resolution  ( R > 5000)  in the J and H bands over a wide field of view  (10 × 10 arcmin²)  in the VLT Nasmyth focal plane. However, instead of correcting the whole field, FALCON will use multi-object adaptive optics (MOAO) to perform the adaptive optics correction locally on each scientific target. This requires us then to use atmospheric tomography in order to use suitable natural guide stars for wavefront sensing. We will show that merging MOAO and atmospheric tomography allows us to determine the internal kinematics of distant galaxies up to z ≈ 2 with a sky coverage of 50 per cent, even for objects observed near the Galactic pole. The application of such a concept to extremely large telescopes seems therefore to be a very promising way to study galaxy evolution from z = 1 to redshifts as high as z = 7.     

Laser Guide Star for 3.6- and 8-m telescopes: Performance and astrophysical implications

We have constructed an analytical model to simulate the behaviour of an adaptive optics system coupled with a sodium laser guide star. The code is applied to 3.6- and 8-m class telescopes. The results are given in terms of Strehl ratio and full width at half-maximum of the point spread function. Two atmospheric models are used, one representing good atmospheric conditions (20 per cent of the time), the other median conditions.   Sky coverage is computed for natural guide star and laser guide star systems, with two different methods. The first one is a statistical approach, using stellar densities to compute the probability of finding a nearby reference. The second is a cross-correlation of a science-object catalogue and the USNO catalogue. Results are given in terms of percentage of the sky that can be accessed with given performances, and in terms of the number of science objects that can be observed, with Strehls greater than 0.2 and 0.1 in the K and J bands.