Adaptive optics at Lick Observatory: system architecture and operations

We will describe an adaptive optics system developed for the 1 meter Nickel and 3 meter Shane telescopes at Lick Observatory. Observing wavelengths will be in the visible for the 1 meter telescope and in the near IR on the 3 meter. The adaptive optics system design is based on a 69 actuator continuous surface deformable mirror and a Hartmann wavefront sensor equipped with an intensified CCD framing camera. The system has been tested at the Cassegrain focus of the 1 meter telescope where the subaperture size is 12.5 cm. The wavefront control calculations are performed on a four processor single board computer controlled by a Unix-based system. We will describe the optical system and give details of the wavefront control system design. We will present predictions of the system performance and initial test results.