Systematic Radio Telescope Alignment Using Portable Fringe Projection Profilometry  

作　　者：Joel Berkson Justin Hyatt Nathan Julicher Byeongjoon Jeong Isaac Pimienta Rachel Ball Wyatt Ellis Jason Voris Diego Torres‑Barajas Daewook Kim 

机构地区：[1]James C.Wyant College of Optical Sciences,University of Arizona,1630 E.University Blvd.,Tucson,AZ 85721,USA [2]Department of Astronomy at Steward Observatory,University of Arizona,933 N Cherry Ave.,Tucson,AZ 85721,USA

出　　处：《Nanomanufacturing and Metrology》2024年第1期75-85,共11页纳米制造与计量（英文）

基　　金：funded by the National Science Foundation(NSF)Award 2009384.

摘　　要：In 2019,the Event Horizon Telescope(EHT)released the first-ever image of a black hole event horizon.Astronomers are now aiming for higher angular resolutions of distant targets,like black holes,to understand more about the fundamental laws of gravity that govern our universe.To achieve this higher resolution and increased sensitivity,larger radio telescopes are needed to operate at higher frequencies and in larger quantities.Projects like the next-generation Very Large Array(ngVLA)and the Square-Kilometer Array(SKA)require building hundreds of telescopes with diameters greater than 10 ms over the next decade.This has a twofold effect.Radio telescope surfaces need to be more accurate to operate at higher frequencies,and the logistics involved in maintaining a radio telescope need to be simplified to support them properly in large quantities.Both of these problems can be solved with improved methods for surface metrology that are faster and more accurate with a higher resolution.This leads to faster and more accurate panel alignment and,therefore,a more productive observatory.In this paper,we present the use of binocular fringe projection profilometry as a solution to this problem and demonstrate it by aligning two panels on a 3-m radio telescope dish.The measurement takes only 10 min and directly delivers feedback on the tip,tilt,and piston of each panel to create the ideal reflector shape.

关 键 词：METROLOGY Fringe projection profilometry Off-axis alignment Radio astronomy Radio antenna 

分 类 号：O43[机械工程—光学工程]