Robo-AO Replicable Robotic Laser Adaptive Optics and Science System for 1-3 m Telescopes Christoph Baranec Caltech Optical Observatories Laboratory development system

Robo-AO - Overview  New astronomy capability Able to allocate large amounts of time to diffraction- limited astronomy, previously not possible  Rapidly develop and deploy low cost adaptive optics (AO) system for 1-3 meter telescopes Use low-risk technologies Ease of use, fully robotic Integrated visible and near IR science instruments Emphasis on high observing efficiency

Robo-AO - AO Science  Extensive targeted searches (1000+ objects) Stellar, sub-stellar companion searches Lensed quasars ( new over 9 months time) Asteroid binarity  Astrometry Dedicated telescope can optimize stability High Strehl in H improves precision HE gravitational lens, Blackburne et al HST (left) seeing limited (right). Robo-AO will be able to resolve these objects. 1”

Robo-AO Science  Rapid transient characterization Respond to transients identified by other systems (e.g. Palomar Transient Factory, Catalina Sky Survey, PanSTARRs) Rapid near-IR photometry  Time-domain astronomy Long term, high resolution monitoring Solar system objects Repeating transients Orbits Swift J , complex and poorly understood light curve, Kasliwal et al Robo-AO could easily perform this observation within minutes of detection.

System Design  12x12 Boston Micromachines MEMS DM  Physik Instrumente Tip/Tilt mirror  Shack-Hartmann WFS (SciMeasure/E2V 39)  IR and visible (600 nm to 2.3 μm, 2’ FoV) science detectors (double as tip/tilt sensors)  ‘Gaming’ CPU running Linux/C++  Rayleigh LGS  Autonomous robotic operation

Deformable mirror MEMS Deformable mirror on a chip (Boston Micromachines) 3.5 µm stroke, 140 actuators, 8 kHz, USB interface, very economical Bonus: FP Electronics drive tip/tilt mirror

Rayleigh LGS  >10 W JDSU 301-HD  Solid state tripled Nd:YAG  Q-Switched (10 kHz)  650 m range gated at 10 km with Pockel’s Cell  Approved for safe use by the FAA (no spotters)  Unfortunately still have abide by USSTRATCOM PA

Robo-AO Error Budget Assuming mV = 17 T/T guide star

Performance – H-Strehl At Zenith Greater than 40% Strehl with mV = 19 T/T in median conditions FWHM at H < 0.26” in even 75% worst seeing conditions

Optomechanical design

Nicholas Law CAMERA: Low-cost Robotic LGS AO for Small Telescopes Optomechanical design

Robinson laboratory development system

Closed-loop in lab (2007)  Testbed running with closed loop at 120 Hz  Fully remote operation, including simulated queue scheduled observations

Robo-AO - Status  On-sky system development with partners from IUCAA (Pune, India) and support from the NSF: AST  Rebuilt lab system in Cahill Center.  Built new development CPU.  WFS running at 3.5 kHz.  Developed new Linux driver library for DM.

Near Future  Purchasing UV laser and optics later this month (testing summer 2010)  Reintegrating TTM and DM into lab system, demonstrate 1.2+ kHz operation by end of year  System Design Review in Spring 2010

Robo-AO (2011+)  Goal is to provide routine efficient diffraction- limited science (visible and NIR) with a dedicated 1-3 m telescope.  One month demonstration of Robo-AO, Spring 2011, with science to follow immediately.  Clone Robo-AO many times over, deploy on other telescopes around the world!

Robo-AO team  Robo-AO instrument team: C. Baranec (Principal Investigator), A. N. Ramaprakash (Co-Investigator, IUCAA), R. Riddle, S. Tendulkar, M. Burse (IUCAA), P. Chordia (IUCAA), H. Das (IUCAA), S. Punnadi (IUCAA), J. Fucik, J. Zolkower  Robo-AO science team: N. Law (Project Scientist, U. Toronto), A. N. Ramaprakash (IUCAA), C. Baranec, R. Dekany, E. Ofek, M. Kasliwal, S. Tendulkar, S. Kulkarni  CAMERA testbed team: M. Britton (now at tOSC), N. Law, V. Velur, D. Beeler (Pomona), L. Ratschbacher (U. Vienna), P. Choi (Pomona), B. Penprase (Pomona)