The Simons Observatory: modeling optical systematics in the Large Aperture Telescope

Gudmundsson, Jon E., Gallardo, Patricio A., Puddu, Roberto, Dicker, Simon R., Adler, Alexandre E., Ali, Aamir M., Bazarko, Andrew, Chesmore, Grace E., Coppi, Gabriele, Cothard, Nicholas F., Dachlythra, Nadia, Devlin, Mark, Dünner, Rolando, Fabbian, Giulio, Galitzki, Nicholas, Golec, Joseph E., Patty Ho, Shuay-Pwu, Hargrave, Peter C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3109-6629, Kofman, Anna M., Lee, Adrian T., Limon, Michele, Matsuda, Frederick T., Mauskopf, Philip D., Moodley, Kavilan, Nati, Federico, Niemack, Michael D., Orlowski-Scherer, John, Page, Lyman A., Partridge, Bruce, Puglisi, Giuseppe, Reichardt, Christian L., Sierra, Carlos E., Simon, Sara M., Teply, Grant P., Tucker, Carole ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1851-3918, Wollack, Edward J., Xu, Zhilei and Zhu, Ningfeng 2021. The Simons Observatory: modeling optical systematics in the Large Aperture Telescope. Applied Optics 60 (4) , pp. 823-837. 10.1364/AO.411533

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Abstract

We present geometrical and physical optics simulation results for the Simons Observatory Large Aperture Telescope. This work was developed as part of the general design process for the telescope, allowing us to evaluate the impact of various design choices on performance metrics and potential systematic effects. The primary goal of the simulations was to evaluate the final design of the reflectors and the cold optics that are now being built. We describe nonsequential ray tracing used to inform the design of the cold optics, including absorbers internal to each optics tube. We discuss ray tracing simulations of the telescope structure that allow us to determine geometries that minimize detector loading and mitigate spurious near-field effects that have not been resolved by the internal baffling. We also describe physical optics simulations, performed over a range of frequencies and field locations, that produce estimates of monochromatic far-field beam patterns, which in turn are used to gauge general optical performance. Finally, we describe simulations that shed light on beam sidelobes from panel gap diffraction.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	Optical Society of America
ISSN:	1559-128X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 April 2021
Date of Acceptance:	27 November 2020
Last Modified:	24 Oct 2025 21:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/140395

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