The simulator of the VLT Deformable Secondary Mirror: a test tool for adaptive optics instruments for the Yepun-UT4 telescope

TL;DR

The paper presents the design and implementation of a Deformable Mirror Simulator for the VLT's adaptive optics system, serving as a test tool for calibration and verification of instruments like ERIS-AO.

Contribution

It introduces a novel optical simulator that reproduces the VLT's adaptive secondary mirror beam for instrument testing and calibration.

Findings

Successful integration with ERIS-AO system

Effective simulation of laser and natural asterisms

Roadmap for future system enhancements

Abstract

The Deformable Mirror Simulator (DMS) is an optical device reproducing the F/13 beam from the adaptive secondary mirror of the Very Large Telescope UT4. The system has been designed and integrated as a test tool for the calibration and functional verification of the WaveFront sensor module of the ERIS instrument (or ERIS-AO). To this purpose the DSMSim includes a high order deformable mirror and two sources to mimic the laser and natural asterisms and illuminate the WFS optics. In this paper we report the design of the DSMSim, the integration, verification and alignment procedure with the ERIS-AO; in the end we outline a roadmap for future improvements of the system. This work is intended to be a reference for future intrumentation projects (e.g. MAVIS-AO) for the VLT.