Adaptive Optics for Extremely Large Telescopes 4 – Conference Proceedings

The Extreme Adaptive Optics is one of the new frontiers for astronomical AO and LBT is hosting one of the few XAO systems available on 8m class telescopes. With the 4Runner, a fast visible camera, we measured the AO performances at visible wavelengths. We were able to correct up to 500 modes at 1kHz of framerate, reaching Strehl ratios of about 40% at 630nm of wavelength. We will show the results obtained in daytime with the calibration source and on-sky using natural guidestars. These performances have been obtained at the LBTI-DX focus, one of the 4 LBT focal stations equipped with a SCAO system. All these 4 systems will be upgraded in the framework of the SOUL project. The wavefront sensor detectors will be substituted with low readout noise ones, the adaptive secondary firmware and the AO control both improved. We will briefly describe here SOUL and its performances as estimated via numerical simulations.