Open Access
25 October 2019 Asymmetries in adaptive optics point spread functions
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Abstract

An explanation for the origin of asymmetry along the preferential axis of the point spread function (PSF) of an AO system is developed. When phase errors from high-altitude turbulence scintillate due to Fresnel propagation, wavefront amplitude errors may be spatially offset from residual phase errors. These correlated errors appear as asymmetry in the image plane under the Fraunhofer condition. In an analytic model with an open-loop AO system, the strength of the asymmetry is calculated for a single mode of phase aberration, which generalizes to two dimensions under a Fourier decomposition of the complex illumination. Other parameters included are the spatial offset of the AO correction, which is the wind velocity in the frozen flow regime multiplied by the effective AO time delay and propagation distance or altitude of the turbulent layer. In this model, the asymmetry is strongest when the wind is slow and nearest to the coronagraphic mask when the turbulent layer is far away, such as when the telescope is pointing low toward the horizon. A great emphasis is made about the fact that the brighter asymmetric lobe of the PSF points in the opposite direction as the wind, which is consistent analytically with the clarification that the image plane electric field distribution is actually the inverse Fourier transform of the aperture plane. Validation of this understanding is made with observations taken from the Gemini Planet Imager, as well as being reproducible in end-to-end AO simulations.

CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.
Alexander Madurowicz, Bruce Macintosh, Jeffrey Chilcote, Marshall Perrin, Lisa Poyneer, Laurent Pueyo, Jean-Baptiste Ruffio, Vanessa P. Bailey, Travis Barman, Joanna Bulger, Tara Cotten, Robert J. De Rosa, René Doyon, Gaspard Duchêne, Thomas M. Esposito, Michael P. Fitzgerald, Katherine B. Follette, Benjamin L. Gerard, Stephen J. Goodsell, James R. Graham, Alexandra Z. Greenbaum, Pascale Hibon, Li-Wei Hung, Patrick Ingraham, Paul Kalas, Quinn Konopacky, Jérôme Maire, Franck Marchis, Mark S. Marley, Christian Marois, Stanimir Metchev, Maxwell A. Millar-Blanchaer, Eric L. Nielsen, Rebecca Oppenheimer, David Palmer, Jennifer Patience, Abhijith Rajan, Julien Rameau, Fredrik T. Rantakyrö, Dmitry Savransky, Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Inseok Song, Rémi Soummer, Melisa Tallis, Sandrine Thomas, Jason J. Wang, Kimberly Ward-Duong, and Schuyler Wolff "Asymmetries in adaptive optics point spread functions," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 5(4), 049003 (25 October 2019). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.5.4.049003
Received: 20 March 2019; Accepted: 23 September 2019; Published: 25 October 2019
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CITATIONS
Cited by 7 scholarly publications.
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KEYWORDS
Point spread functions

Adaptive optics

Scintillation

Atmospheric propagation

Telescopes

Fourier transforms

Wave propagation

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