Toward optimization of pulsed sodium laser guide stars
- 10 November 2015
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Optica Publishing Group in Journal of the Optical Society of America B
- Vol. 32 (12), 2425-2434
- https://doi.org/10.1364/josab.32.002425
Abstract
Pulsed sodium laser guide stars (LGS) are useful because they allow for Rayleigh blanking and fratricide avoidance in multiple-LGS systems. Bloch equation simulations of sodium–light interactions show that these may be able to achieve photon returns nearly equal to, and in some cases greater than, what is seen from CW excitation. In this work, we study the time-dependent characteristics of sodium fluorescence and investigate the optimal format for the new fiber laser LGS that will be part of the upgraded adaptive optics system on the Shane Telescope at Mt. Hamilton. Results of this analysis are examined in the context of their general applicability to other LGS systems and the potential benefits of uplink correction are considered. Comparisons of simulation predictions with measurements from existing LGS are also presented and discussed.Keywords
Funding Information
- University of California, Santa Cruz
This publication has 23 references indexed in Scilit:
- Statistics of the sodium layer parameters at low geographic latitude and its impact on adaptive-optics sodium laser guide star characteristicsAstronomy & Astrophysics, 2010
- Optimization of cw sodium laser guide star efficiencyAstronomy & Astrophysics, 2010
- Optical magnetometryNature Physics, 2007
- Retrieval of global mesospheric sodium densities from the Odin satelliteGeophysical Research Letters, 2007
- The W. M. Keck Observatory Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics System: OverviewPublications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2006
- Seasonal and Nocturnal Variations of the Mesospheric Sodium Layer at Starfire Optical Range, New MexicoChinese Journal of Geophysics, 2003
- Mesospheric Na layer at 40°N: Modeling and observationsJournal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 1999
- Analysis of measured photon returns from sodium beaconsJournal of the Optical Society of America A, 1998
- Atmospheric-turbulence compensation by resonant optical backscattering from the sodium layer in the upper atmosphereJournal of the Optical Society of America A, 1994
- Observation of optical pumping of mesospheric sodiumOptics Letters, 1992