A Sodium Guide Star Laser System for the Lick Observatory 3 Meter Telescope

Abstract

The use of sodium-layer laser guide stars for adaptive optics systems greatly enhances the sky coverage as compared to systems using natural guide stars. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of a sodium-layer guide star, a 20 W pulsed dye laser system has been designed and installed on the 3 meter Shane telescope at the Lick Observatory, Mt. Hamilton, California. The adaptive optics system used in conjunction with the laser guide star system has been described elsewhere1 and has already demonstrated diffraction limited images at the 2.2 micron wavelength using natural guide stars. The integration of the sodium laser guide star and the adaptive optics systems represents the first such installation on an astronomical telescope.