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Atmospheric and adaptive optics

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Abstract

Atmospheric optics is the study of optical effects induced by the atmosphere on light propagating from distant sources. Of particular concern to astronomers is atmospheric turbulence, which limits the performance of ground-based telescopes. The past two decades have seen remarkable growth in the capabilities and performance of adaptive optics (AO) systems. These opto-mechanical systems actively compensate for the blurring effect of the Earth’s turbulent atmosphere. By sensing, and correcting, wavefront distortion introduced by atmospheric index-of-refraction variations, AO systems can produce images with resolution approaching the diffraction limit of the telescope at near-infrared wavelengths. This review highlights the physical processes and fundamental relations of atmospheric optics that are most relevant to astronomy, and discusses the techniques used to characterize atmospheric turbulence. The fundamentals of AO are then introduced and the many types of advanced AO systems that have been developed are described. The principles of each are outlined, and the performance and limitations are examined. Aspects of photometric and astrometric measurements of AO-corrected images are considered. The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the challenges related to current and future AO systems, particularly those that will equip the next generation of large, ground-based optical and infrared telescopes.

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Acknowledgments

I am indebted to many colleagues who provided insights into different aspects of this subject, but particularly to Jacques Beckers, Brent Ellerbroek, Marc Sarazin and Andrei Tokovinin. I am grateful to Jean Surdej for his encouragement, and to Andreas Quirrenback whose comments improved the manuscript. Part of this work was completed during sabbatical visits to the European Southern Observatory and the Université de Liège. I thank both institutes for their hospitality. Financial support was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

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    Paul Hickson

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Hickson, P. Atmospheric and adaptive optics. Astron Astrophys Rev 22, 76 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00159-014-0076-9

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