Simulation of the Imaging Quality of Ground-based Telescopes affected by Atmospheric Disturbances

Ground-based telescope imaging model is developed in this paper, the relationship between the atmospheric disturbances and the ground-based telescope image quality is studied. Simulation of the wave-front distortions caused by atmospheric turbulences has long been an important method in the study of the propagation of light through the atmosphere. The phase of the starlight wave-front is changed over time, but in an appropriate short exposure time, the atmospheric disturbances can be considered as "frozen". In accordance with Kolmogorov turbulence theory, simulating atmospheric disturbances of image model based on the phase screen distorted by atmospheric turbulences is achieved by the fast Fourier transform (FFT). Geiger mode avalanche photodiode array (APD arrays) model is used for atmospheric wave-front detection, the image is achieved by inversion method of photon counting after the target starlight goes through phase screens and ground-based telescopes. Ground-based telescope imaging model is established in this paper can accurately achieve the relationship between the quality of telescope imaging and monolayer or multilayer atmosphere disturbances, and it is great significance for the wave-front detection and optical correction in a Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics system (MCAO).