Currently, the multi-conjugate adaptive optics is one of the most promising concepts for large field of view adaptive optics compensation. The minimum mean square error (MMSE) approach is the main method for its wave-front reconstruction. In this article, firstly we briefly present the principle of three-dimension wavefront reconstruction; then the precision between the least square error (LSE), widely used in conventional adaptive optics, and the MMSE is compared by numerical simulation. We also did the study on the number of guide stars required to achieve a fixed field of view in different telescope aperture. The results show that the MMSE is more precise than LSE approach when the noise is considered; and more guide stars are needed for small aperture telescope. Finally, the system performance with different number of the guide stars for small aperture telescope is discussed.

Date Published: 15 October 2012
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 8415, 6th International Symposium on Advanced Optical Manufacturing and Testing Technologies: Large Mirrors and Telescopes, 84150W (15 October 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.975766

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8415:
6th International Symposium on Advanced Optical Manufacturing and Testing Technologies: Large Mirrors and Telescopes
Wenhan Jiang; Myung K. Cho; Fan Wu, Editor(s)