SOAR Adaptive Module (SAM): seeing improvement with a UV laser

Abstract

The adaptive module of the 4.1-m SOAR telescope, SAM, corrects ground-layer turbulence using a UV laser guide star. It has been commissioned in 2013 and it is in regular science operation since 2014. SAM works with the CCD imager covering a 3' field or with the speckle camera. It operates routinely and stably, delivering resolution in the I band equal to the free-atmosphere seeing. This paper describes the SAM system as a whole, providing essential reference for its users and technical information of interest to instrumentalists. Operation of the instrument, its performance, and science projects done with SAM so far are reviewed.

Accepted for publication in PASP. 14 pages, 12 figures

References in corpus (8)

• Robotic Laser-Adaptive-Optics Imaging of 715 Kepler Exoplanet Candidates using Robo-AO
• Performance Modeling of a Wide Field Ground Layer Adaptive Optics System
• Stellar Crowding and the Science Case for Extremely Large Telescopes
• Isolated ellipticals and their globular cluster systems III. NGC 2271, NGC 2865, NGC 3962, NGC 4240 and IC 4889
• Planet Hunters X: Searching for Nearby Neighbors of 75 Planet and Eclipsing Binary Candidates from the K2 Kepler Extended Mission
• An AO-assisted variability study of four globular clusters
• SOAR Adaptive Optics Observations of the Globular Cluster NGC6496
• Imaging survey of subsystems in secondary components to nearby southern dwarfs

Cited by in corpus (24)

• Ten years of speckle interferometry at SOAR
• The STRong lensing Insights into the Dark Energy Survey (STRIDES) 2017/2018 follow-up campaign: Discovery of 10 lensed quasars and 10 quasar pairs
• Speckle interferometry at SOAR in 2018
• Speckle interferometry at SOAR in 2016 and 2017
• Speckle interferometry at SOAR in 2019
• The VISCACHA survey -- IV. The SMC West Halo in 8D
• The VISCACHA survey -- III. Star clusters counterpart of the Magellanic Bridge and Counter-Bridge in 8D
• The Solar Neighborhood XLIX: New Discoveries and Orbits of M Dwarf Multiples with Speckle Interferometry at SOAR
• The VISCACHA survey -- II. Structure of star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds periphery
• The VISCACHA survey -- VII. Assembly history of the Magellanic Bridge and SMC Wing from star clusters
• The LHS 1678 System: Two Earth-Sized Transiting Planets and an Astrometric Companion Orbiting an M Dwarf Near the Convective Boundary at 20 pc
• The Evolution of Protoplanetary Disks: Probing the Inner Disk of Very Low Accretors
• New binaries in the epsilon Cha association
• The VISCACHA survey -- VIII. Chemical evolution history of Small Magellanic Cloud West Halo cluster
• The VISCACHA survey -- V. Rejuvenating three faint SMC clusters
• A likely runaway star cluster in the outer disc of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Impact of Laser Guide Star facilities on neighbouring telescopes: The case of GTC, TMT, VLT and ELT lasers and the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• The Solar Neighborhood LII: M Dwarf Twin Binaries -- Presumed Identical Twins Appear Fraternal in Variability, Rotation, H$\alpha$, and X-rays
• The VISCACHA Survey: XIII. The extended main-sequence turn-off in intermediate-age low-mass clusters
• Improved Image Quality Over 10' Fields with the `Imaka Ground Layer Adaptive Optics Experiment
• SAMplus: adaptive optics at optical wavelengths for SOAR
• BTFI2: a simple, light and compact Fabry-Perot instrument for the SOAR telescope
• Implementation of MUAV as reference source for GLAO systems
• The Solar Neighborhood. LV. M Dwarf Twin Binaries -- One in Five Twin Sibling Pairs Are Mismatched in Activity and/or Rotation