First laboratory and on-sky results of an adaptive secondary mirror with TNO-style actuators on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility
conference paper
We are developing an adaptive secondary mirror (ASM) that uses a new actuator technology created by the
Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). The TNO hybrid variable reluctance actuators
have more than an order of magnitude better efficiency over the traditional voice coil actuators that have been
used on existing ASMs and show potential for improving the long-term robustness and reliability of ASMs.
To demonstrate the performance, operations, and serviceability of TNO’s actuators in an observatory, we have
developed a 36-actuator prototype ASM for the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) called IRTF-ASM-1.
IRTF-ASM-1 provides the first on-sky demonstration of this approach and will help us evaluate the long-term
performance and use of this technology in an astronomical facility environment. We present calibration and
performance results with the ASM in a Meniscus Hindle Sphere lens setup as well as preliminary on-sky results
on IRTF. IRTF-ASM-1 achieved stable closed-loop performance on-sky with H-band Strehl ratios of 35-40% in
long-exposure images under a variety of seeing conditions.
Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). The TNO hybrid variable reluctance actuators
have more than an order of magnitude better efficiency over the traditional voice coil actuators that have been
used on existing ASMs and show potential for improving the long-term robustness and reliability of ASMs.
To demonstrate the performance, operations, and serviceability of TNO’s actuators in an observatory, we have
developed a 36-actuator prototype ASM for the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) called IRTF-ASM-1.
IRTF-ASM-1 provides the first on-sky demonstration of this approach and will help us evaluate the long-term
performance and use of this technology in an astronomical facility environment. We present calibration and
performance results with the ASM in a Meniscus Hindle Sphere lens setup as well as preliminary on-sky results
on IRTF. IRTF-ASM-1 achieved stable closed-loop performance on-sky with H-band Strehl ratios of 35-40% in
long-exposure images under a variety of seeing conditions.
TNO Identifier
1001181
Source title
SPIE conferentie SPIE Astronomical Telescopes & Instrumentation, Yokohama, Japan
Pages
1-15
Files
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