Atmosphere-like turbulence generation with surface-etched phase-screens.

We built and characterized an optical system that emulates the optical characteristics of an 8m-class telescope like the Very Large Telescope. The system contains rotating glass phase-screens to generate realistic atmosphere-like optical turbulence, as needed for testing multiconjugate adaptive optics systems. In this paper we present an investigation of the statistical properties of two phase-screens etched on glass-plate surfaces, obtained from Silios Technologies.

Broadband, static wave-front generation: Na-Ag ion-exchange phase screens and telescope emulation.

We test the statistical properties of static, atmospherelike wave fronts in glass that allow repeatable testing of astronomical adaptive optics instrumentation. The technology is mask-structured ion exchange (MSI) in glass and has significant advantages over other transmissive technologies. The screens are easy to clean, are insensitive to ambient temperature changes, and have high optical-to-near-infrared transmission.