Bench Level Atmospheric Simulation and Adaptive-optic Test-bed

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) proposes to develop a bench level atmospheric and laser guide star (LGS) simulator for characterizing adaptive optics (AO) components.  Phase I efforts will begin by building simulation models for both actual and bench level LGS systems.  PSI will leverage existing atmospheric wave-optics code, adding the physics relevant to LGS systems.  Models will be exercised to generate sensitivities, quantifying the relationship between system parameters (anisoplanatism, beacon elongation, number of deformable mirror (DM) actuators) and residual wavefront error (WFE).  Simulation results will be used to guide design of a prototype system.  PSI will leverage significant experience in engineering design and hardware implementation of electro-optical systems to build the bench level system in Phase II.  The Phase II program will deliver a bench level testbed capable of rapidly characterizing current and future state of the art AO components