Astronomical Adaptive Optics

Matthew Britton

Caltech

Atmospheric turbulence degrades the image quality of ground-based optical and infrared telescopes by blurring the images. Observations acquired in the "seeing limit" are blurred by an order of magnitude or more in comparison to the theoretical diffraction limit, leading to a severe reduction in the angular resolution and sensitivity of the observations. Adaptive optics is a dynamic and growing field that aims to eliminate the effects of atmospheric turbulence to restore the diffraction limited performance of the telescope. This talk will describe the basic operation of the first generation of astronomical adaptive optics systems. I will describe the utility of adaptive optics both within and outside of astronomy, including applications in vision science, satellite surveillance, and free space optical communication. The talk will conclude with a discussion of recent and active areas of research and development in astronomical adaptive optics. These include the direct imaging of exoplanets, techniques to provide correction at visible wavelengths, the use of multiple laser guide stars to deliver adaptive optics compensation over wide fields, and a summary of the next generation of adaptive optics architectures now under development for ground-based optical and infrared telescopes.