Optical design for the narrow field infrared adaptive optics system (NFIRAOS) petite on the thirty meter telescope

Abstract

We describe an exploratory optical design for the Narrow Field InfraRed Adaptive Optics (AO) System (NFIRAOS) Petite, a proposed adaptive optics system for the Thirty Meter Telescope Project. NFIRAOS will feed infrared spectrograph and wide-field imaging instruments with a diffraction limited beam. The adaptive optics system will require multi-guidestar tomographic wavefront sensing (WFS) and multi-conjugate AO correction. The NFIRAOS Petite design specifications include two small 60 mm diameter deformable mirrors (DM's) used in a woofer/tweeter or multiconjugate arrangement. At least one DM would be a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) DM. The AO system would correct a 10 to 30 arcsec diameter science field as well as laser guide stars (LGS's) located within a 60 arcsec diameter field and low-order or tip/tilt natural guide stars (NGS's) within a 60 arcsec diameter field. The WFS's are located downstream of the DM's so that they can be operated in true closed-loop, which is not necessarily a given in extremely large telescope adaptive optics design. The WFS's include adjustable corrector elements which correct the static aberrations of the AO relay due to field position and LGS distance height.