Abstract

The nature and extent of atmospheric effects that degrade astronomical seeing are briefly reviewed. Based on the temporal and spatial characteristics of the effects, adaptive optics system concepts are considered as a means of ameliorating the atmospheric degradation. Guide stars, artificial beacons formed by laser interaction with matter in the atmosphere, are necessary elements in all these concepts. Starting with an assumed overall astronomical facility performance goal, a system performance error budget is developed which includes subsystem and important component contributions. The technical status of the important system elements, such as guide star laser, mesosphere physics, wavefront sensor, deformable mirror, etc., is then reviewed to allow definition of subsystem performance algorithms. Finally, these are incorporated into a system performance code to enable quantitative projection of overall astronomical facility near-term performance.

© 1991 Optical Society of America