Abstract
In this paper, the wavefront perturbation method based on power detection of radio sources is used to measure the surface error of the Tianma radio telescope. By measuring the surface errors at different elevation angles, a surface compensation model to correct gravitational deformation is established. Observation results shows that the efficiency reduction caused by the gravitational deformation can be effectively compensated by loading this model on the active surface, especially at high and low elevations. A dual-beam calibration scheme is further used to remove atmospheric background fluctuations, which significantly improves data quality at lower elevations. The form and order of the perturbation modes and data processing are optimized to improve measurement accuracy. This paper presents the first attempt to apply the wavefront perturbation method to large radio telescopes and demonstrates its capacity and effectiveness in telescope runtime surface measurement and maintenance.
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The datasets used and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Funding
This work was supported by the National Key R &D Program of China (No.2018YFA0404702, 2019YFA0708904, No.2021YFC2203501), Shanghai Key Laboratory of Space Navigation and Positioning Techniques, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12273097).
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Jinqing Wang and Zheng Lou wrote the main manuscript text. Jinqing Wang made the arrangement of the experiments. Zheng Lou did the data anysis and calibration. Yongbin Jiang have write the control software to do the experiment. Zhengxiong Sun have prepared the manuscript formate and figures.Linfeng Yu,Yongchen Jiang,Rongbin Zhao and Li fu have done the observation. Weiye Zhong designed and fabricated the Q band receiver. Shengcai Shi, Qinghui Liu and Yingxi Zuo have give much advice for the title , figures and abstract. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
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Wang, J., Lou, Z., Jiang, Y. et al. The measurement and modeling of gravitational deformation for large radio telescope based on wavefront perturbation method. Exp Astron 56, 779–792 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-023-09917-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-023-09917-5