Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics Simulator for the Thirty Meter Telescope: Design, Implementation, and Results

TL;DR

This paper introduces HeNOS, a simulator bench for multi-conjugate adaptive optics designed for the Thirty Meter Telescope, demonstrating its design, implementation, and initial results for various AO modes.

Contribution

It details the development and validation of a scaled-down AO system simulator for the TMT, including the implementation of multiple AO modes and future plans for advanced AO techniques.

Findings

HeNOS successfully simulates multiple AO modes.

The system validates AO performance for the TMT scale.

Preparations for laser tomography and MCAO are underway.

Abstract

We present a multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) system simulator bench, HeNOS (Herzberg NFIRAOS Optical Simulator). HeNOS is developed to validate the performance of the MCAO system for the Thirty Meter Telescope, as well as to demonstrate techniques critical for future AO developments. In this paper, we focus on describing the derivations of parameters that scale the 30-m telescope AO system down to a bench experiment and explain how these parameters are practically implemented on an optical bench. While referring other papers for details of AO technique developments using HeNOS, we introduce the functionality of HeNOS, in particular, three different single-conjugate AO modes that HeNOS currently offers: a laser guide star AO with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, a natural guide star AO with a pyramid wavefront sensor, and a laser guide star AO with a sodium spot elongation on the Shack-Hartmann corrected by a truth wavefront sensing on a natural guide star. Laser tomography AO and ultimate MCAO are being prepared to be implemented in the near future.