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Turbulence velocity profiling for high sensitivity and vertical-resolution atmospheric characterization with Stereo-SCIDAR (2016)
Journal Article
Osborn, J., Butterley, T., Townson, M., Reeves, A., Morris, T., & Wilson, R. (2017). Turbulence velocity profiling for high sensitivity and vertical-resolution atmospheric characterization with Stereo-SCIDAR. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 464(4), 3998-4007. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2685

As telescopes become larger, into the era of ∼40 m Extremely Large Telescopes, the high-resolution vertical profile of the optical turbulence strength is critical for the validation, optimization and operation of optical systems. The velocity of atmo... Read More about Turbulence velocity profiling for high sensitivity and vertical-resolution atmospheric characterization with Stereo-SCIDAR.

pt5m – a 0.5 m robotic telescope on La Palma (2015)
Journal Article
Hardy, L., Butterley, T., Dhillon, V., Littlefair, S., & Wilson, R. (2015). pt5m – a 0.5 m robotic telescope on La Palma. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 454(4), 4316-4325. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv2279

pt5m is a 0.5 m robotic telescope located on the roof of the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) building, at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma. Using a five-position filter wheel and CCD detector, and bespoke control software, pt5m... Read More about pt5m – a 0.5 m robotic telescope on La Palma.

Atmospheric scintillation in astronomical photometry (2015)
Journal Article
Osborn, J., Föhring, D., Dhillon, V., & Wilson, R. (2015). Atmospheric scintillation in astronomical photometry. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 452(2), 1707-1716. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv1400

Scintillation noise due to the Earth's turbulent atmosphere can be a dominant noise source in high-precision astronomical photometry when observing bright targets from the ground. Here we describe the phenomenon of scintillation from its physical ori... Read More about Atmospheric scintillation in astronomical photometry.

Stereo-SCIDAR: optical turbulence profiling with high sensitivity using a modified SCIDAR instrument (2013)
Journal Article
Shepherd, H., Osborn, J., Wilson, R., Butterley, T., Avila, R., Dhillon, V., & Morris, T. (2014). Stereo-SCIDAR: optical turbulence profiling with high sensitivity using a modified SCIDAR instrument. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 437(4), 3568-3577. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt2150

The next generation of adaptive optics systems will require tomographic reconstruction techniques to map the optical refractive index fluctuations, generated by the atmospheric turbulence, along the line of sight to the astronomical target. These sys... Read More about Stereo-SCIDAR: optical turbulence profiling with high sensitivity using a modified SCIDAR instrument.

ULTRACAM z′-band detection of the secondary eclipse of WASP-12b (2013)
Journal Article
Föhring, D., Dhillon, V., Madhusudhan, N., Marsh, T., Copperwheat, C., Littlefair, S., & Wilson, R. (2013). ULTRACAM z′-band detection of the secondary eclipse of WASP-12b. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 435(3), 2268-2273. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt1443

We present z′-band secondary eclipse photometry of the highly irradiated hot Jupiter WASP-12b using ULTRACAM on the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope. We measure a decrease in flux of δ = 0.130 ± 0.013 per cent during the passage of the planet behind... Read More about ULTRACAM z′-band detection of the secondary eclipse of WASP-12b.

Conjugate-plane photometry: reducing scintillation in ground-based photometry (2011)
Journal Article
Osborn, J., Wilson, R. W., Dhillon, V., Avila, R., & Love, G. D. (2011). Conjugate-plane photometry: reducing scintillation in ground-based photometry. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 411(2), 1223-1230. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17759.x

High-precision fast photometry from ground-based observatories is a challenge due to intensity fluctuations (scintillation) produced by the Earth's atmosphere. Here we describe a method to reduce the effects of scintillation by a combination of pupil... Read More about Conjugate-plane photometry: reducing scintillation in ground-based photometry.

Profiling the surface layer of optical turbulence with SLODAR (2010)
Journal Article
Osborn, J., Wilson, R., Butterley, T., Shepherd, H., & Sarazin, M. (2010). Profiling the surface layer of optical turbulence with SLODAR. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 406(2), 1405-1408. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.16795.x

A prototype of a new SLope Detection And Ranging (SLODAR) instrument for atmospheric optical turbulence profiling has been developed by the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation at Durham University. The instrument targets double stars with wide separa... Read More about Profiling the surface layer of optical turbulence with SLODAR.

Durham extremely large telescope adaptive optics simulation platform (2007)
Journal Article
Basden, A., Butterley, T., Myers, R., & Wilson, R. (2007). Durham extremely large telescope adaptive optics simulation platform. Applied optics, 46(7), 1089-1098. https://doi.org/10.1364/ao.46.001089

Adaptive optics systems are essential on all large telescopes for which image quality is important. These are complex systems with many design parameters requiring optimization before good performance can be achieved. The simulation of adaptive optic... Read More about Durham extremely large telescope adaptive optics simulation platform.

Determination of the profile of atmospheric optical turbulence strength from SLODAR data (2006)
Journal Article
Butterley, T., Wilson, R., & Sarazin, M. (2006). Determination of the profile of atmospheric optical turbulence strength from SLODAR data. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 369(2), 835-845. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10337.x

Slope Detection and Ranging (SLODAR) is a technique for the measurement of the vertical profile of atmospheric optical turbulence strength. Its main applications are astronomical site characterization and real-time optimization of imaging with adapti... Read More about Determination of the profile of atmospheric optical turbulence strength from SLODAR data.

Acceleration of adaptive optics simulations using programmable logic (2005)
Journal Article
Basden, A., Assemat, F., Butterley, T., Geng, D., Saunter, C., & Wilson, R. (2005). Acceleration of adaptive optics simulations using programmable logic. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 364(4), 1413-1418. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09670.x

Numerical simulation is an essential part of the design and optimization of astronomical adaptive optics (AO) systems. Simulations of AO are computationally expensive and the problem scales rapidly with telescope aperture size, as the required spatia... Read More about Acceleration of adaptive optics simulations using programmable logic.

Estimation of anisoplanatism in adaptive optics by generalized SCIDAR profiling (2003)
Journal Article
Wilson, R., Wooder, N., Rigal, F., & Dainty, J. (2003). Estimation of anisoplanatism in adaptive optics by generalized SCIDAR profiling. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 339(2), 491-494. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-8711.2003.06198.x

We present the results of contemporaneous seeing measurements using a multi-object Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, SCIDAR optical turbulence profiling, and a DIMM seeing monitor at the William Herschel Telescope in La Palma. The data are used to det... Read More about Estimation of anisoplanatism in adaptive optics by generalized SCIDAR profiling.

SLODAR: measuring optical turbulence altitude with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (2002)
Journal Article
Wilson, R. (2002). SLODAR: measuring optical turbulence altitude with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 337(1), 103-108. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05847.x

This paper discusses the use of Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensors to determine the vertical distribution of atmospheric optical turbulence above large telescopes. It is demonstrated that the turbulence altitude profile can be recovered reliably from t... Read More about SLODAR: measuring optical turbulence altitude with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor.

Characterization of the mesospheric sodium layer at La Palma (2001)
Journal Article
Michaille, L., Clifford, J., Dainty, J., Gregory, T., Quartel, J., Reavell, F., …Wooder, N. (2001). Characterization of the mesospheric sodium layer at La Palma. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 328(4), 993-1000. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04703.x

We present the results of a mesospheric sodium monitoring programme at La Palma carried out through five campaigns of one week each, from 1999 September to 2000 August. The yearly averaged parameters of the layer (the sodium column density and the wi... Read More about Characterization of the mesospheric sodium layer at La Palma.

Diffraction-limited 800 nm imaging with the 2.56 m Nordic optical telescope (2001)
Journal Article
Baldwin, J., Tubbs, R., Cox, G., Mackay, C., Wilson, R., & Andersen, M. (2001). Diffraction-limited 800 nm imaging with the 2.56 m Nordic optical telescope. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 368(1), L1-L4. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361%3A20010118

A quantitative assessment is presented of diffraction-limited stellar images with Strehl ratios of 0.25-0.30 obtained by selection of short-exposure CCD images of stars brighter than +6 m at 810 nm with the Nordic Optical Telescope.