On the vibration management in ground-based telescopes. Use case for the European Solar Telescope (EST)

Vibration management has become a critical issue in the construction of new ground-based telescopes. Due to the increase of the primary mirrors and the improvement of their facilities, not being limited by the light-gathering capacity of the telescope’s optics, the effects of telescope vibrations on image stability are henceforth perceptible. In the case of large telescopes, commonly equipped with an adaptive optics (AO) system to obtain near-diffraction-limited images, the effects of vibrations in both amplitude and frequency distribution must be assessed to avoid limiting the correction capacity of AO. This requires a strategy to characterize the potential impact of vibrations on image stability. This paper presents a novel strategy for vibration management during the design phase of ground-based telescopes. A use case for the European Solar Telescope (EST) is outlined in this document. First, the proposed criterion to allocate vibrations in different locations of the telescope is described. As EST is currently in the preliminary design phase, using models emerges as a significant support for project development. The main models involved in the proposed strategy to analyze the effects of vibration on image stability are presented. Preliminary simulation-based results obtained, and their applicability to the design of the telescope, are also discussed.