High-Speed Digital Signal Processing For Speckle Interferometry

Speckle Interferometry has now been shown capable of yielding diffraction limited information on objects as faint as visual magnitude 16. Research in progress at Steward Observatiry is aimed at improving (a) the resolution, (by using the Multiple Mirror Telescope with its 6.9 meter baseline), (b) the accuracy of the derived results (by implementing better recording devices and reduction algorithms), and (c) the efficiency and speed with which the information can be provided (by means of high-speed digital signal-processing hardware). The instrumentation proposed here will improve patial resolution at visible wave-lengths to approximately 15 milliarc-seconds (75 x 10 ' radians, the best possible for any existing telescope), reduce detector induced image distortion to less than 1% and increase the throughput to essentially real-time complex Fourier transform amplitude and phase integrations at the telescope.