Physics – Optics
Scientific paper
Mar 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004pasp..116..278d&link_type=abstract
The Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Volume 116, Issue 817, pp. 278-289.
Physics
Optics
1
Instrumentation: Lasers, Instrumentation: Adaptive Optics, Polarization, Atomic Processes
Scientific paper
Measurements of a laser-pumped sodium guide star produced over the Starfire Optical Range in 2002 November show that the brightness of the spot produced by 11.5 W of linearly polarized power on the sky was equivalent to a V=8.0 mag star. However, taking into account that the transmission through a V filter is only 55% at the wavelength of sodium, its corrected magnitude, V1, was 7.4, or 800 photons s-1 cm-2 at the top of the telescope. In 2003 March, tests with linearly and then circularly polarized beams out of the telescope showed that a circularly polarized beam from 12 W of power out of the telescope produced a spot with V1=7.1 (1015 photons s-1 cm-2 at the top of the telescope), 0.7 mag brighter than a linearly polarized beam from 11.1 W of power out of the telescope. Over the 4 nights of experiments over two seasons, the apparent 2σ width of the spot varied between 3.6" and 4.6", or 1.6 and 2.0 m at 92 km altitude, and its length through the sodium layer was 4.6-8.5 km, but no variation of spot size with power on the sky was seen.
Denman Craig
Drummond Jack
Hillman Paul
Telle John
Tuffli Andrea
No associations
LandOfFree
Photometry of a Sodium Laser Guide Star at the Starfire Optical Range 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 Photometry of a Sodium Laser Guide Star at the Starfire Optical Range, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Photometry of a Sodium Laser Guide Star at the Starfire Optical Range will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1028623