Mesospheric sodium layer monitoring for laser guide star adaptive optics systems in Chile (II)

Details Mesospheric sodium layer monitoring for laser guide star adaptive optics systems in Chile (II) Mesospheric sodium layer monitoring for laser guide star adaptive optics systems in Chile (II)

Aug 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001noao.prop..369d&link_type=abstract

NOAO Proposal ID #2001B-0369

Physics

Optics

Scientific paper

Observations with facility adaptive optics is limited to certain areas on the sky due to the requirement of a stellar source to measure the wavefront distortions. A solution to this sky coverage problem is to use resonant backscattering of a laser beam by mesospheric sodium atoms as an artificial wavefront reference. In this technique, knowledge of the sodium abundance is crucial to determine the laser power required to produce guide stars of sufficient brightness and to efficiently correct for atmospheric distortions with adaptive optics. Long-terms status was requested for semesters 2001A, 2001B and 2002A to monitor the mesospheric sodium layer abundance and altitude above Cerro Tololo for the benefit of the Gemini and SOAR laser guide star adaptive optics programs. The first Chilean sodium monitoring experiment with a laser took place successfully in February 2001 and the second run will take place in May. We obtained good quality data which shows surprisingly few sporadic events. This AO-friendly behavior will hopefully be confirmed by following runs. Determination of hourly and nightly abundance and altitude variations is on-going.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Mesospheric sodium layer monitoring for laser guide star adaptive optics systems in Chile (II) does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Mesospheric sodium layer monitoring for laser guide star adaptive optics systems in Chile (II), we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Mesospheric sodium layer monitoring for laser guide star adaptive optics systems in Chile (II) will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-818931