Abstract 123

Submitted by Emiliano DIOLAITI

Authors

E. Diolaiti (1), J.-M. Conan (2), I. Foppiani (3), M. Lombini (1,3), E. Marchetti (4), C. Petit (2), C. Robert (2), L. Schreiber (3), M. Bellazzini (1), P. Ciliegi (1), F. Assémat (2), A. Baruffolo (5), V. Biliotti (6), G. Bregoli (1), G. Cosentino (3), S. D’Odorico (4), T. Fusco (2), N. Hubin (4), S. Meimon (2), B. Neichel (2)

Affiliations

(1) INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna ; (2) ONERA ; (3) Università di Bologna – Dipartimento di Astronomia ; (4) ESO ; (5) INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova ; (6) INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri

Abstract

MAORY is the Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics RelaY for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). A two years Phase A study for this module is in progress, within the framework of the E-ELT instrumentation studies sponsored by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The study is performed by a consortium including INAF, ONERA and ESO. MAORY has to provide a corrected Field of View of medium to large size (up to 2 arcmin), over the baseline wavelength range 0.8-2.4 µm. It is expected to provide a correction of high quality and uniformity with high sky coverage. With a seeing of 0.85 arcsec in the visible, the average value across the field of view of the K band Strehl Ratio is expected to be approximately 0.4 over 50% of the sky at the Galactic Pole. MAORY shall be able to feed two types of instruments: light instruments, providing mechanical derotation, and heavy instruments. Among the former type, a high angular resolution imaging camera (MICADO) is foreseen. The current MAORY concept is based on the use of 6 laser guide stars for the measurement of the high order wavefront degradation, up to 3 natural guide stars for the measurement of the low orders and two post-focal deformable mirrors, that complement the ground-layer and the tip-tilt correction provided by the telescope. The basic concept for laser guide stars wavefront sensing is Shack-Hartmann combined with Continuous Wave lasers, although other approaches are under investigation. The current design and the expected performance of MAORY is presented, while the study is approaching the phase A review.