Telescope with much larger primary can collect much more light and it is always pursued by the astronomers. Instead of
using a monolithic primary, more and more large telescopes, which are now planed or in construction, invariably adopted
segmented primary mirror. Therefore, how to sense and phase the primary mirror is the key technology. Unlike edge
sensors, which need careful calibrations, dispersed Hartmann sensor (DHS) is non-contact method using broadband point
light sources, and it can estimate piston by the two-direction spectrum formed by the transmissive grating's dispersion
and lenslet array. Thus it can realize the combination of co-focusing and co-phasing. In this paper, we introduce the
design of our dispersed Hartmann sensor together with its principle. We also manufacture a DHS sensor and do real tests
on our existing segmented mirror optics platform. Finally some conclusions are given based on the test results.
KEYWORDS: Telescopes, CCD cameras, Data processing, Astronomy, Stars, Scintillation, Control systems, Charge-coupled devices, Signal attenuation, Space telescopes
The extreme environment of Antarctic greatly benefits astronomical observations. Site testing works already show the
excellent seeing and transmission on Dome C. And the higher, colder inland plateau Dome A is widely predicted as even
better astronomical site than Dome C. Preliminary site testing carried out since the beginning of 2008 shows that Dome
A has lower boundary layer and lower precipitable water vapour. Now the automated seeing monitor is urgently needed
to quantify the site's optical character which is necessary for the telescope design and deployment. We modify the
commercial telescopes with diameter of 35cm to function as site testing DIMM and make it monitor both seeing and
isoplanatic angle at the same time automatically on Dome A at different height. Part of the processed data will be
transferred back by Iridium satellite network every day. The first DIMM will be deployed on Dome A in early 2011.
Prelimenary site testing led by Chinese Center of Antarctic Astronomy (CCAA) shows that the highest point of the
Antarctic Plateau Dome A has very clear sky, good seeing, slow wind, low boundary layer and very low precipitable
water vapour which make it the best site on earth for optical/IR and sub-mm observations. Chinese Small Telescope
ARray (CSTAR) was installed at Dome A in 2008 and have automatically observed for about 3 antarctic winters. The
three Antarctic Schmidt telescopes(AST3) with entrance pupil diameter 500mm are the second antarctic project
proposed by CCAA and the first AST are being constructed in NIAOT now which is planned to be mounted on Dome A
at the beginning of 2011. All the tracking components were tested in the low temperature chamber and an adaptive
defrosting method is designed to prevent the frost building up on the schmidt plate.
KEYWORDS: Actuators, Control systems, Optical fibers, Mirrors, Active optics, Sensors, Segmented mirrors, Control systems design, Astronomy, Telescopes
Active optics plays an important part in segmented mirrors of astronomy telescopes. A dispersed fringe sensor(DFS) using a broadband point source is an efficient method for cophasing and is also highly automated and robust. DFS can estimate the piston between segments only through the spectrum formed by the transmissive
grating's dispersion and therefore can replace the edge sensors. So we build an system in our lab to experiment the DFS method. The whole control system of DFS is put forward, including control of displacement actuators and control of shifting the optical fiber. Control of displacement actuators consists in industry computer,
HY-6120 I/O card, six stepper motor and other parts. Some theoretical analysis and experiment tests reveal that the actuator could be controlled to 5nm and without backlash by this control strategy. The optical fiber could be shifted out of optical path or shifted in part or whole of optical path so that the spectrum formed by the transmissive grating's dispersion could alter. When six actuators are moving, the piston is changing, and the
spectrum is also moving and altering. And the whole control of DFS system is constructed now and seems well.
Further test and experiment will be carry out.
A type of displacement actuator used in active optics on Astronomical Telescope LAMOST was described in
the paper. Now it have obtained success on the small LAMOST. Tests of the actuator using dual-frequency
laser interferometer give some main parameters of them, and also give influence of condition varieties example
for pull or push force. It show how do these conditons affect the actuator, and how to use the actuator to fit
active optices. Finding out the characteristics after testing, these actuators were applied on the telescope. Some
puzzles were encountered and solved all, which was showed in the paper. Finally we could control these actuators
go forward or backward to several tens of nanometers accurately. By these technologic problems solved in the test and locations, these actuators could be applied on LAMOST or larger Astronomical Telescope.
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