Optical system performances can be affected by local optical turbulence created by its surrounding environment (telescope dome, clean room, atmospheric surface layer). We present our new instrument INTENSE (INdoor TurbulENce SEnsor) dedicated to this local optical turbulence characterization. INTENSE consists of using several parallel laser beams separated by non-redundant baselines between 0.05 and 2.5m and measuring Angle-of-Arrival fluctuations from spots displacements on a CCD. We present detailed characterization of instrumental noise and first results for the characterization of the turbulence inside clean rooms for optical testing and integration.

Date Published: 22 July 2014
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 9145, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes V, 91453A (22 July 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2056337

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9145:
Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes V
Larry M. Stepp; Roberto Gilmozzi; Helen J. Hall, Editor(s)