Laboratory demonstration of the prediction of wind-blown turbulence by adaptive optics at 8 kHz with use of LQG control

Abstract

The low-latency adaptive optical mirror system (LLAMAS) is designed to push the limits on achievable latencies and frame rates. It has 21 subapertures across its pupil. A reformulated version of the linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) method predictive Fourier control is implemented in LLAMAS; for all modes, it takes just 30 µs to compute. In the testbed, a turbulator mixes hot and ambient air to produce wind-blown turbulence. Wind prediction clearly improves correction when compared to an integral controller. Closed-loop telemetry shows that wind-predictive LQG removes the characteristic “butterfly” and reduces temporal error power by up to a factor of three for mid-spatial frequency modes. Strehl changes seen in focal plane images are consistent with telemetry and the system error budget.