There have been a number of books and thousands of papers published with descriptions and mathematical expressions regarding adaptive optics. The material in this Field Guide is a summary of the methods for determining the requirements of an adaptive optics system, the performance of the system, and requirements for the components of the system. This second edition has a greatly expanded presentation of adaptive optics control system design and operation. Discussions of control models are accompanied by various recommendations for implementing the algorithms in hardware.
This book is not just another book on adaptive optics. There are already many fine volumes. This volume is intended for students, researchers, and practicing engineers who want a "go to" book when the calculation was "needed yesterday" (by a customer who won't be
paying for it until the next fiscal year).
Many of the expressions are in the form of integrals. When that is the case, we show the results graphically for a variety of practical values. Some of the material in this volume duplicates similar expressions found in other volumes of the Field Guide series. We have attempted to remain consistent with symbols of the other volumes. In some cases, however, we chose different symbols because they are well known within the adaptive optics literature.
Descriptions of the operation of subsystems and components and specific engineering aspects remain in the citations of the Bibliography.
This Field Guide is dedicated to the late Horace Babcock,
whose pioneering ideas created the field of adaptive optics.
Robert K. Tyson
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Ben W. Frazier
AOA Xinetics,
Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems
