Fighting vibrations on large telescopes is an arduous task. At Gemini, vibrations originating from cryogenic coolers have been shown to degrade the optical wavefront, in certain cases by as much as 40%. This paper discusses a general solution to vibration compensation by tracking the real time vibration state of the telescope and using M2 to apply corrections. Two approaches are then presented: an open loop compensation at M2 based on the signal of accelerometers at the M1 glass, and a closed loop compensation at M2 based on optical measurements from the wave front sensor. The paper elaborates on the pros and cons of each approach and the challenges faced during commissioning. A conclusion is presented with the final results of vibration tracking integrated with operations.

Date Published: 8 August 2016
PDF: 13 pages
Proc. SPIE 9913, Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy IV, 99132M (8 August 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2231782

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9913:
Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy IV
Gianluca Chiozzi; Juan C. Guzman, Editor(s)