LASER GUIDE STAR ADAPTIVE OPTICS ON THE 5.1 METER TELESCOPE AT PALOMAR OBSERVATORY

The 5.1 meter diameter telescope at Palomar Observatory has been equipped with a (currently) 7.5 W sodium D2-line micropulse/macropulse solid-state sum-frequency Nd:YAG slab laser for use with the existing 241-actuator Palomar Adaptive Optics System (PALAO). The combination of the pulsed laser, developed at University of Chicago, and the natural guide star AO system, which alone can achieve 80 % K-band Strehl ratio (175 nm rms residual wavefront error) running at 2 kHz sample rates, will allow near-term atmospheric compensation to resolutions as fine as 50 milliarcseconds (240 nanoradians) over a significant fraction of the sky. As final testing of the laser guide star (LGS) system is completed, we are simultaneously planning for a major PALAO system upgrade to utilize a new 3,217 active-actuator deformable mirror. If fully funded, PALM-3000 will suppress wavefront error to as low as 80 nm rms using bright natural guide stars in excellent seeing conditions, providing ~20 % Strehl ratio at 0.4 μm wavelength resulting in 16 milliarcsec (78 nanoradian) resolution. PALM-3000 will enable visible science observations of solar system bodies and enable unprecedented infrared studies of companions in orbit around nearby stars. Low-risk upgrades of the current pulsed sodium laser should achieve 15