The European Solar Telescope will be equipped with a multi- conjugate adaptive optics system (MCAO) to provide excellent image correction within one arcminute field. A demonstrator of solar MCAO with similar requirements as the EST is being designed at IAC.
This bench will test new and existing concepts for solar MCAO, as, e.g., the integration of neuronal networks in the reconstruction process. A high-resolution image of the Sun will be created and perturbed by a turbulence simulator with different phase screens placed at different heights.
MCAO correction will be performed by one pupil deformable mirror and two altitude deformable mirrors. Two wide-field wavefront sensors will be used to perform the tomography and a scientific camera will evaluate the performance within one arcminute field.
This bench is currently under construction at the IAC headquarters. Construction and alignment of the system is expected to be finished in the coming year, although first results from completed modules will be available earlier.