A versatile turbulence simulator for high-resolution imaging studies of astronomical targets

摘要

We describe versatile turbulence simulator for testing and calibration of new techniques for high-resolution imaging of objects outside the Earth's atmosphere using ground-based instrumentation. Examples here include: dynamic aperture diversity, wave front sensing using multi-aperture phase retrieval, and free-space beam propagation for rapidly re-configurable interferometers. Used in the testing of all of these, the simulator uses a high resolution spatial light modulator in tandem with a lower resolution deformable mirror to simulate atmospheric phase distortions over a wide range of turbulence conditions.