Abstract

We have performed what are, to our knowledge, the first measurements of wave fronts propagated through atmospheric turbulence with the use of a synthetic beacon in the mesospheric sodium layer. The synthetic-beacon wave fronts showed reasonable agreement with those from reference stars. The sodium-layer beacon performance was also compared with that of beacons produced by Rayleigh backscatter in the 6-20-km altitude range.

© 1991 Optical Society of America

Experimental demonstration of atmospheric compensation using multiple synthetic beacons

Daniel V. Murphy, Charles A. Primmerman, Byron G. Zollars, and Herbert T. Barclay
Opt. Lett. 16(22) 1797-1799 (1991)

Atmospheric-turbulence compensation by resonant optical backscattering from the sodium layer in the upper atmosphere

W. Happer, G. J. MacDonald, C. E. Max, and F. J. Dyson
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Pulse-train excitation of sodium for use as a synthetic beacon

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J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 9(10) 1931-1944 (1992)

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J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 13(5) 1083-1093 (1996)

Imaging performance analysis of adaptive optical telescopes using laser guide stars

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