We present recent developments of the CAOS problem-solving environment (PSE), an IDL-based software tool
whose original aim was to define and simulate as realistically as possible the behavior of a generic adaptive
optics (AO) system -from the atmospheric propagation of light, to the sensing of the wave-front aberrations
and the correction through a deformable mirror- but which results in a widely more general tool now. In
fact, the different developments made through the last years result in a very versatile numerical tool complete
of a global graphical interface (the CAOS Application Builder), a general utilities library (the CAOS
Library), and different packages dedicated to a wide range of astronomical-optics-related scientific topics: the
original package designed for end-to-end AO system simulations (the Software Package CAOS), an image simulation/
reconstruction package with interferometric capabilities (the Software Package AIRY), an extension of
the latter specialized for the LBT instrument LINC-NIRVANA (the Software Package AIRY-LN), an ad hoc
package dedicated to the VLT instrument SPHERE (the Software Package SPHERE), and an embedment of the
analytical AO simulation code PAOLA (the Software Package PAOLAC).We present the status of the whole CAOS
PSE, together with the most recent developments, and plans for the future of the overall tool.
LINC-NIRVANA (LN) is the German-Italian Fizeau beam combiner for the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT),
composed of two 8.4-m apertures on a unique mount. It will provide multiple images of the same astrophysical
target corresponding to different orientations of the 22.8-m maximum baseline. Starting from the already existing
Sofware Package AIRY (a set of IDL-based modules developed within the CAOS "system" and dedicated to
simulation and/or deconvolution of single or multiple images), an ad-hoc version has been especially designed for
the data that will be obtained with LN. In this paper, we present the resulting Software Package AIRY-LN. Its
capabilities, including quick-look methods, methods for specific classes of astronomical objects, PSF extraction,
and a blind deconvolution algorithm are detailed. An IDL-licence-free (by means of the IDL Virtual Machine)
and observer-oriented version of the whole package (with pre-setted LN image processing parameters) is also
presented.
LINC-NIRVANA (LN) is a Fizeau interferometer that will provide for the first time coherent images in the near-IR combining the beams from the two Large Binocular Telescope (LBT)arms, by adopting a Multi-Coniugate
Adaptive Optics system (MCAO) that allows for atmospheric turbulence compensation. We applied a software
for the simulation and the reconstruction of LN images (AIRY-LN, see Desidera et al.1 this Conference) in two
specific scientific cases: a relatively distant galaxy at redshift about 1 and a collimated jet from a Young Stellar
Object (YSO). These two cases have been chosen to test the capability of LN in the observations of faint and
small (1-2 arcsec) extragalactic objects and objects with diffuse emission and high dynamical range, respectively.
A total of six images at different hour angles have been obtained for both cases. Using these simulated images, we
obtained the final reconstructed images using the software package AIRY-LN. These images have been analyzed
with the standard data reduction software (IRAF and IDL). Our analysis show that the reconstruction algorithm
is fundamental to obtain a good reproduction of the original flux and morphology while the optimal number of
iterations strongly depends on the scientific goal.
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