FASS: a turbulence profiler based on a fast, low-noise camera

Guesalaga, A; Ayancán, B; Sarazin, M; Wilson, RW; Perera, S; Le Louarn, M

doi:10.1093/mnras/staa3823

FASS: a turbulence profiler based on a fast, low-noise camera

Guesalaga, A; Ayancán, B; Sarazin, M; Wilson, RW; Perera, S; Le Louarn, M

Authors

A Guesalaga

B Ayancán

M Sarazin

Dr Richard Wilson r.w.wilson@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

S Perera

M Le Louarn

Abstract

The measurement of the atmospheric optical turbulence with a new scintillation profiler is described and demonstrated. The instrument, FASS (Full Aperture Scintillation Sensor), uses new fast and low-noise detectors to record and process sequences of scintillation images. Statistical processing of these data is based on the calculation of power spectra of intensity in annular pupil zones over the angular coordinate. The angular power spectra are used to measure the optical turbulence intensity of 14 layers located at logarithmically spaced distances from 0.3 to 25 km. The reference functions relating turbulence strength to the angular power spectra are computed by numerical simulation. Measurement of the ground-later turbulence and total seeing with FASS is possible when the detector is conjugated to a negative (below ground) distance. Results of measurement campaigns at Paranal are reported, documenting a good agreement of turbulence profiles measured by FASS with two other instruments, SCIDAR and MASS.

Citation

Guesalaga, A., Ayancán, B., Sarazin, M., Wilson, R., Perera, S., & Le Louarn, M. (2021). FASS: a turbulence profiler based on a fast, low-noise camera. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 501(2), 3030-3045. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa3823

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Dec 8, 2020
Online Publication Date	Dec 11, 2020
Publication Date	2021-02
Deposit Date	Jul 2, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Jul 2, 2021
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN	0035-8711
Electronic ISSN	1365-2966
Publisher	Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	501
Issue	2
Pages	3030-3045
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa3823

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This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2020, The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.