Eden McEwen Rose Hills
Wavelength Dependence of the ‘Imaka Ground Layer Adaptive Optics Experiment
The twinkling of stars and other astronomical targets due to the Earth’s atmosphere is a long-standing disadvantage that ground-based telescopes face compared to their space-based peers. Large observatories have used adaptive optics (AO) to correct for atmospheric blurring, producing nearly diffraction-limited images. Ground layer AO (GLAO) seeks to apply corrections to a wider field of view than traditional AO by selectively targeting lower atmospheric layers. My SURF project will look at the last three years of data from the ‘imaka GLAO experiment to characterize the instrument’s correction over a variety of conditions and over multiple wavelengths. Better corrections over larger fields and shorter wavelengths enables observations of extended targets in multiple spectrums. The results from this work will inform GLAO systems in the next generation of ground based telescopes.
Message To Sponsor
Thank you to the Rose Hills Foundation for funding my summer research. Through this experience I have been able to wholeheartedly follow my research interests for the summer. I've made significant progress on publication-worthy work, and have been able to bring that progress into my final year at Berkeley. With thesis-level work, I am ready to pursue my research interests to graduate schools.