Advances in control of a Pyramid Single Conjugate Adaptive Optics system

TL;DR

This paper reports advances in adaptive optics control for pyramid wavefront sensors, including improved tip/tilt control and modal gain optimization, enhancing performance for ground-based telescopes like the Large Binocular Telescope.

Contribution

The work introduces novel control techniques for pyramid adaptive optics systems, specifically improved tip/tilt control and modal gain optimization tested on sky.

Findings

Enhanced tip/tilt control recovers nominal correction amid high-frequency resonances.

Successful on-sky testing of modal gain optimization.

Relevance for ELT first light AO systems.

Abstract

Adaptive optics systems are an essential technology for the modern astronomy for ground based telescopes. One of the most recent revolution in the field is the introduction of the pyramid wavefront sensor. The higher performance of this device is payed with increased complexity in the control. In this work we report about advances in the AO system control obtained with SOULat the Large Binocular Telescope. The first is an improved Tip/Tilt temporal control able to recover the nominal correction even in presence of high temporal frequency resonances. The second one is a modal gain optimization that has been successfully tested on sky for the first time. Pyramid wavefront sensors are the key technology for the first light AO systems of all ELTs and the reported advances can be relevant contributions for such systems.