H2020Индивидуална стипендия2020–2022

MOAI · MethOds And Instrumentation for laser guide star wavefront sensing

„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2020-09-01 → 2022-08-31
Финансиране от ЕС: 184 708 €
Участници: 1
Схема: MSCA-IF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Методи за създаване на многоцветни лазерни „звезди-водичи“ помагат за коригиране на изкривяванията на светлината, причинени от атмосферата. Това подобрява качеството на изображенията, което улеснява откриването на планети извън Слънчевата система и наблюдението на черни дупки.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

MethOds And Instrumentation for laser guide star wavefront sensing

One of the biggest problems for telescopes placed on the ground are the optical aberrations produced by the atmospheric turbulence when observing sky objects. Fortunately, technological progress made possible the development of Adaptive Optics, a technique which enables real-time correction of the atmospheric distortions, hence providing improved image quality to the scientific instruments in the telescope. Thanks to adaptive optics we are capable to identify planets outside the solar system and also to observe the motion of stars around the black holes in the center of our galaxy. A key technology in adaptive optics are lasers that can produce bright spots of light in the upper atmosphere, also called laser guide stars. Laser guide stars are essential to extend the observable sky where adaptive optics can be employed, providing astronomer with more and better information about the universe. In this project, we investigated methods and technologies that tackle the fundamental limitations of laser guide stars in current and future adaptive optics systems. We studied how a multi-color laser guide star can be generated and evaluated how this could enable an adaptive optics system to correct for the fast lateral motion (jitter) of stars arising from atmospheric turbulence. We contributed to the development of the PAPYRUS adaptive optics bench, which has been in operation at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence in southern France, providing a pyramid-based adaptive optics system to the whole community for experimenting new concepts and technology. In addition, we developed a prototype of a laser guide star wavefront sensor for one of the first instruments of the Extremely Large Telescope. This prototype helped to validate a new wavefront sensor camera and to test the optical design of the wavefront sensor for the first time in a controlled environment. This part of the work provided valuable information for the final design of the laser guide star wavefront sensor.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

Adaptive optics (AO) together with sodium laser guide stars (LGS) have revolutionized astronomical observations in the last decades. The new generation of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) will require and integrate AO-assisted observations to comply with their scientific programs, however, extrapolating the current AO technology to the dimensions of the ELTs encounters technological barriers (large, sensitive, and fast detectors) and fundamental limitations derived from the geometry and properties of LGS (spot elongation and tip-tilt indetermination). Therefore, the aim of the MOAI project is to develop MethOds And Instrumentation for laser guide star wavefront sensing (LGSWFS), in view of the challenges imposed by the future ELTs. Three specific goals are foreseen, namely: i) evaluate the feasibility of LGS tip-tilt correction using the polychromatic laser guide star concept, ii) investigate and propose an innovative concept of LGSWFS for ELTs, and iii) demonstrate a new LGSWFS technology. The project will be carried out at the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM) in 24 months. The first and second exploratory-research goals will be accomplished by testing and modeling new LGSWFS concepts using state-of-the-art AO facilities and software developed at LAM, in addition to numerical simulations of LGS. The third goal will be realized through the implementation of an LGSWFS prototype in the laboratory, and post validation of its performance with an on-sky experiment at AO facilities in La Palma. The combination of local AO expertise with the experience of the fellow in LGS will be essential for the success of this project. Achieving the objectives will considerably extend the capabilities of AO-assisted observations, which will constitute a significant contribution of the European action and the fellow to enable new astrophysical discoveries in the upcoming era of ELTs.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisКоординаторФранция