Experience with wavefront sensor and deformable mirror interfaces for wide-field adaptive optics systems

TL;DR

This paper shares practical insights and solutions from integrating wavefront sensors and deformable mirrors in two wide-field adaptive optics systems, aiding future development of large telescopic AO systems.

Contribution

It provides detailed experiences, challenges, and solutions in integrating AO components for wide-field systems, offering valuable guidance for future AO system development.

Findings

Successful integration of cameras and DMs with real-time control systems

Identification of key issues and their solutions in AO system integration

Recommendations for future wide-field AO system development

Abstract

Recent advances in adaptive optics (AO) have led to the implementation of wide field-of-view AO systems. A number of wide-field AO systems are also planned for the forthcoming Extremely Large Telescopes. Such systems have multiple wavefront sensors of different types, and usually multiple deformable mirrors (DMs). Here, we report on our experience integrating cameras and DMs with the real-time control systems of two wide-field AO systems. These are CANARY, which has been operating on-sky since 2010, and DRAGON, which is a laboratory adaptive optics real-time demonstrator instrument. We detail the issues and difficulties that arose, along with the solutions we developed. We also provide recommendations for consideration when developing future wide-field AO systems.