Low-cost adaptive optics for astronomical applications

Abstract

Recent advancement in the technology in integrated circuit fabrication and new smart sensors allow us to implement adaptive optics systems which is otherwise not possible to implement a few years back with limited resources or for those projects where cost factor is an important one. Our first aim is to understand the technologies of adaptive optics by experimenting with low cost adaptive optics components and implement a wavefront sensor to measure the aberrations in an optical telescope and mirror surface testing in an optical fabrication shop. The second aim is to design a low cost adaptive optics system for image quality improvement using tip-tilt and deformable mirrors. We describe our work to achieve this goal.