Speaker
Description
The size and complexity of modern ground-based telescopes, such as the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), present new challenges for adaptive optics (AO) systems. Large separations between the deformable mirror (DM) and the wavefront sensor (WFS), with moving components in the optical path, mean the alignment between them is expected to regularly evolve during observations. Without tracking and correction, these mis-registrations between the DM and WFS degrade the AO performance. Accounting for these effects at the ELT is crucial for achieving diffraction limited performance and realising the full resolution potential of the telescope. SPRINT (System Parameters Recurrent INvasive Tracking) provides an approach to track these mis-registrations and is planned to be used by all ELT instruments. It uses a pseudo-synthetic model of the AO system to estimate the mis-registrations from on-sky signals. We present an overview of SPRINT, and the results from testing at the Large Binocular Telescope to validate the method. These first daytime and on-sky tests demonstrate the robustness and accuracy of SPRINT.
