The adaptive optics simulation analysis tool(kit) (AOSAT)

TL;DR

AOSAT is a versatile Python tool that analyzes adaptive optics simulation results, providing detailed performance metrics to aid instrument design and evaluation in astronomy.

Contribution

AOSAT offers a flexible, stand-alone Python package for comprehensive analysis of SCAO simulation data, bridging the gap between basic outputs and full instrument simulators.

Findings

Provides detailed PSF and wavefront error analysis

Enables quick assessment of AO system performance

Supports integration into various simulation environments

Abstract

AOSAT is a python package for the analysis of single-conjugate adaptive optics (SCAO) simulation results. Python is widely used in the astronomical community these days, and AOSAT may be used stand-alone, integrated into a simulation environment, or can easily be extended according to a user's needs. Standalone operation requires the user to provide the residual wavefront frames provided by the SCAO simulation package used, the aperture mask (pupil) used for the simulation, and a custom setup file describing the simulation/analysis configuration. In its standard form, AOSAT's "tearsheet" functionality will then run all standard analyzers, providing an informative plot collection on properties such as the point-spread function (PSF) and its quality, residual tip-tilt, the impact of pupil fragmentation, residual optical aberration modes both static and dynamic, the expected high-contrast performance of suitable instrumentation with and without coronagraphs, and the power spectral density of residual wavefront errors. AOSAT fills the gap between the simple numerical outputs provided by most simulation packages, and the full-scale deployment of instrument simulators and data reduction suites operating on SCAO residual wavefronts. It enables instrument designers and end-users to quickly judge the impact of design or configuration decisions on the final performance of down-stream instrumentation.