Enhanced Seeing Mode at the LBT: A Method to Significantly Improve Angular Resolution over a 4' x 4' Field of View

TL;DR

Enhanced Seeing Mode at the LBT significantly improves angular resolution over a large field of view, enabling high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy comparable to space telescopes under various atmospheric conditions.

Contribution

This paper introduces and characterizes a new observational mode, ESM, that enhances angular resolution over a wide field using adaptive optics, expanding LBT's capabilities beyond diffraction limits.

Findings

Achieves uniform angular resolution as good as 0.22 arcseconds over 4' x 4' FOV

Improves image quality by factors of 2-3 in poor seeing conditions

Enables high-resolution spectroscopy and imaging comparable to space telescopes

Abstract

Since 2014, the LBT's First Light Adaptive Optics (FLAO) system has also included a seldom used capability, known as Enhanced Seeing Mode (ESM), that can improve the angular resolution over a 4' x 4' field of view (FOV). In full AO operation, FLAO provides diffraction limited (DL) capabilities over a small (30" x 30") FOV. By comparison, ESM can achieve significantly enhanced resolution, over natural seeing, across a far larger FOV. This improves operational efficiency over standard seeing limited (SL) observations and is applicable across a broader range of scientific targets. ESM uses 11 modes of correction (including tip and tilt) to remove residual aberrations and jitter which significantly improves angular resolution over the full FOV. While this mode does not reach the DL, it can achieve uniform angular resolutions as good as 0".22 over the FOV. Furthermore, it allows for the use of multi-object spectroscopy with R~10,000 or imaging with angular resolution similar to that achieved by the Wide-Field Camera 3 infrared channel on the Hubble Space Telescope, but powered by 11.6 meters of effective aperture in binocular mode. As part of the on-going characterization of ESM, we have demonstrated that even in poor seeing conditions (1".5-2") the image quality delivered to the focal station is improved by factors of 2-3. Here, we present the first results of the characterization of ESM, including systematic tests of the delivered PSF across the FOV as a function of the brightness of, and distance from, the AO Reference Star. We present a range of galactic and extra-galactic targets showing the improvements obtained over a broad range of seeing conditions and propose ESM as a standard observational mode for near-Infrared observations.