Wavefront correction with high-order curvature adaptive optics systems.
We demonstrate the existence of higher-order curvature adaptive optics (AO) systems and compare their performance with the current 85-element system being built at the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii. Simulation results show that systems with in excess of 500 actuators are possible with actuator patterns that are simple extensions of the 85-element design. The attenuation of residual phase error within the Nyquist frequency of the deformable mirror (DM) satisfies the (-5/6) power law. A high-order system is also analyzed in which the pattern of wavefront sensor is synthesized from square pixels and the curvature actuators of the DM are also rectangular. The Strehl performance is approximately 2% worse than its annular analog.
Yang
Qiang
Q
Department of Physics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton 49931, USA. yang@math.montana.edu
Ftaclas
Christ
C
Chun
Mark
M