钠信标技术研究进展

Progress of Sodium Beacon Technology

在天文学领域,利用地基大口径望远镜对天体进行高分辨率观测是研究天体物理、星系演化等关键科学问题的重要手段。然而,大气湍流的扰动严重限制了地基光学望远镜的成像质量。为解决这一问题,各大望远镜都采用自适应光学技术,校正大气造成的波前畸变,实现近衍射极限分辨能力。其中,激光钠信标技术,即通过激发90 km处钠原子自发辐射产生人造亮星,为自适应光学波前探测提供参考基准,成为了此领域的核心技术之一。首先介绍国内外钠信标的发展历程,以及新型的钠信标自适应光学系统。然后,针对目前钠信标所面临的局限性,介绍钠信标正在研究的热点方向。最后,介绍钠信标的新应用领域,钠信标不仅在天文学中发挥关键作用,还扩展到多个相关领域,展现出广阔的应用前景。

High-resolution observations of celestial objects in astronomy using ground-based large-aperture telescopes are important for addressing fundamental scientific inquiries related to astrophysics and galaxy evolution.However,the imaging quality of ground-based optical telescopes is severely limited by disturbance arising from atmospheric turbulence.Hence,researchers are developing adaptive optical techniques to correct wave-front distortions caused by atmospheric turbulence and achieve near-diffraction-limited resolution in telescopes.One of the fundamental technologies within this area is sodium-beacon technology,which involves exciting sodium atoms at an altitude of 90 km to provide a reference for wavefront sensing in adaptive optics.In this paper,the development history of sodium beacons in China and other countries is first provided,followed by an introduction of new adaptive optical systems adopting sodium beacons.Additionally,the limitations of sodium beacons and the corresponding research issues are presented.Finally,this paper introduces new application areas of sodium beacons.Notably,sodium beacons are not only beneficial to astronomy but also to many related fields,thus indicating their broad potential in diverse applications.