Optimization with numerical simulations of the conjugate altitudes of deformable mirrors in an MCAO system

This article reports on the results of simulations conducted to assess the performance of a modal Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) system on a 10 m telescope with one Deformable Mirror (DM) conjugated to the telescope pupil and a second DM conjugated at a certain altitude above the pupil. The main goal of these simulations is to study the dependence of MCAO performance upon the altitude of the high-altitude conjugated DM and thereby determine its optimal conjugation. The performance is also studied with respect to the geometry of the Guide Star constellation when using constellations of Natural Guide Stars (NGS), which are rare, or constellations of Laser Guide Stars (LGS) which would allow large sky coverage.