The achromatic design of an atmospheric dispersion corrector for extremely large telescopes

Bahrami, Mehdi and Goncharov, Alexander V. (2011) The achromatic design of an atmospheric dispersion corrector for extremely large telescopes. Optics Express, 19(18), pp. 17099-17113. ISSN (online) 1094-4087

Abstract

For off-zenith observations with ground-based astronomical telescopes, the effect of atmospheric dispersion relative to diffraction on image size increases with telescope diameter. Correction of atmospheric dispersion in extremely large telescopes (ELTs) might become critical. A common solution for ELTs is to use linear atmospheric dispersion correctors (ADCs). In spite of their simplicity, the intrinsic chromatic aberrations of linear ADCs could render diffraction-limited imaging impossible when used in a fast focus. The chromatic problems of the linear ADC in ELTs can be resolved by replacing the linear ADC by the achromatic ADC designs presented here, which provide diffraction-limited image quality and offer several opto-mechanical advantages over linear ADCs.

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