Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Asymmetries In Adaptive Optics Point Spread Functions, Alexander Madurowicz, Bruce Macintosh, Jeffrey Chilcote, Marshall Perrin, Lisa Poyneer, Laurent Pueyo, Jean Baptiste Ruffio, Vanessa P. Bailey, Travis Barman, Joanna Bulger, Tara Cotten, Robert J. De Rosa, Rene Doyon, Gaspard Duchêne, Thomas M. Esposito, Michael P. Fitzgerald, Katherine B. Follette, Benjamin L. Gerard, Stephen J. Goodsell, James R. Graham, Alexandra Z. Greenbaum, Pascale Hibon, Li Wei Hung, Patrick Ingraham, Paul Kalas, Quinn Konopacky, Jérôme Maire, Franck Marchis, Mark S. Marley, Christian Marois, Stanimir Metchev, Maxwell A. Millar-Blanchaer, Kimberly Ward-Duong

Astronomy: Faculty Publications

An explanation for the origin of asymmetry along the preferential axis of the point spread function (PSF) of an AO system is developed. When phase errors from high-altitude turbulence scintillate due to Fresnel propagation, wavefront amplitude errors may be spatially offset from residual phase errors. These correlated errors appear as asymmetry in the image plane under the Fraunhofer condition. In an analytic model with an open-loop AO system, the strength of the asymmetry is calculated for a single mode of phase aberration, which generalizes to two dimensions under a Fourier decomposition of the complex illumination. Other parameters included are the …