The LINC-NIRVANA fringe and flexure tracker: image analysis concept and fringe tracking performance estimate

Thomas Bertram; Carmelo Arcidiacono; Christian Straubmeier; Steffen Rost; Yeping Wang; Andreas Eckart

doi:10.1117/12.671542

29 June 2006 The LINC-NIRVANA fringe and flexure tracker: image analysis concept and fringe tracking performance estimate

Thomas Bertram, Carmelo Arcidiacono, Christian Straubmeier, Steffen Rost, Yeping Wang, Andreas Eckart

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6268, Advances in Stellar Interferometry; 62683P (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.671542
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2006, Orlando, Florida , United States

Abstract

The correction of atmospheric differential piston and instrumental flexure effects is mandatory for interferometric operation of the LBT NIR interferometric imaging camera LINC-NIRVANA. The task of the Fringe and Flexure Tracking System (FFTS) is to detect and correct these effects in real-time. In the fringe tracking concept that we present, differential piston information is gathered in the image plane by analyzing the PSF of a reference star anywhere in the large field of view of the LBT. We have developed and tested a fast PSF analysis algorithm that allows to clearly identify differential piston even in the case of low S/N. We present performance estimates of the algorithm. Since the performance of the FFTS algorithm has a strong impact on the overall sky coverage of LINC-NIRVANA, we studied the required limiting magnitudes of the fringe tracking reference star for different scenarios. As the FFTS may not necessarily operate on the science target, but rather uses a suitable reference star at a certain angular distance to the science target, differences between piston values at the two positions add to the residual piston of the FFTS. We have dealt with the question of differential piston angular anisoplanatism and studied a possible improvement of the isopistonic patch size by the use of multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO). In its final stage, LINC-NIRVANA will be equipped with such a system.

Citation Download Citation

Thomas Bertram, Carmelo Arcidiacono, Christian Straubmeier, Steffen Rost, Yeping Wang, and Andreas Eckart "The LINC-NIRVANA fringe and flexure tracker: image analysis concept and fringe tracking performance estimate", Proc. SPIE 6268, Advances in Stellar Interferometry, 62683P (29 June 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.671542

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available