AOLI-- Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager: Diffraction Limited Imaging in the Visible on Large Ground-Based Telescopes

摘要

The highest resolution images ever taken in the visible were obtained bycombining Lucky Imaging and low order adaptive optics. This paper describes anew instrument to be deployed on the WHT 4.2m and GTC 10.4 m telescopes on LaPalma, with particular emphasis on the optical design and the expected systemperformance. A new design of low order wavefront sensor using photon countingCCD detectors and multi-plane curvature wavefront sensor will allowdramatically fainter reference stars to be used, allowing virtually full skycoverage with a natural guide star. This paper also describes a significantimprovements in the efficiency of Lucky Imaging, important advances inwavefront reconstruction with curvature sensors and the results of simulationsand sensitivity limits. With a 2 x 2 array of 1024 x 1024 photon countingEMCCDs, AOLI is likely to be the first of the new class of high sensitivity,near diffraction limited imaging systems giving higher resolution in thevisible from the ground than hitherto been possible from space.