Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics on the 1.5 Meter Telescope at the Starfire Optical Range

The Starfire Optical Range 1.5 m telescope is equipped with a 241 actuator adpative optics system operating at visible wavelengths. The system can use either natural or laser guide star beacons for sensing wavefront distortions induced by atmospheric turbulence. This paper describes the main parameters of the system and presents a few examples of experimental results. The best results are Strehl ratios of 0.64 (star beacon) and 0.48 (laser beacon), both having full-width-half-maximum point spread functions of 0.13 arc second (0.88 μm).