Effect Of Coud Pupil Rotation on Sodium Laser Beacon Perspective Elongation

This research models a sodium laser guide star and its measurement by a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. By predicting the extent of beacon elongation and Coud rotation, reference images are produced for each subaperture throughout an engagement scenario. These reference sources are then used to continuously recalibrate the system as it changes orientation. This model measures the effect of perspective elongation and Coud on SHWFS measurements to quantitatively determine the extent of degradation that occurs.