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Robo-AO Replicable Robotic Laser Adaptive Optics and Science System for 1-3 m Telescopes Christoph Baranec Caltech Optical Observatories Laboratory development system
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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
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Robo-AO - AO Science Extensive targeted searches (1000+ objects) Stellar, sub-stellar companion searches Lensed quasars (300-700 new over 9 months time) Asteroid binarity Astrometry Dedicated telescope can optimize stability High Strehl in H improves precision HE 1113-0641 gravitational lens, Blackburne et al. 2007. HST (left) seeing limited (right). Robo-AO will be able to resolve these objects. 1”
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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 J1955+2614, complex and poorly understood light curve, Kasliwal et al. 2008. Robo-AO could easily perform this observation within minutes of detection.
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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
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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
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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
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Robo-AO Error Budget Assuming mV = 17 T/T guide star
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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
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Optomechanical design
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Nicholas Law CAMERA: Low-cost Robotic LGS AO for Small Telescopes Optomechanical design
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Robinson laboratory development system
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Closed-loop in lab (2007) Testbed running with closed loop at 120 Hz Fully remote operation, including simulated queue scheduled observations
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Robo-AO - Status On-sky system development with partners from IUCAA (Pune, India) and support from the NSF: AST-0906060. Rebuilt lab system in Cahill Center. Built new development CPU. WFS running at 3.5 kHz. Developed new Linux driver library for DM.
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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
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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!
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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)
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