Data processing for fabrication of GMT primary segments: raw data to final surface maps

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) primary mirror is a 25 meter f/0.7 surface composed of seven 8.4 meter circular segments, six of which are identical off-axis segments. The fabrication and testing challenges with these severely aspheric segments (about 14 mm of aspheric departure, mostly astigmatism) are well documented. Converting the raw phase data to useful surface maps involves many steps and compensations. They include large corrections for: image distortion from the off-axis null test; misalignment of the null test; departure from the ideal support forces; and temperature gradients in the mirror. The final correction simulates the active-optics correction that will be made at the telescope. Data are collected and phase maps are computed in 4D Technology's 4SightTM software. The data are saved to a .h5 (HDF5) file and imported into MATLAB® for further analysis. A semi-automated data pipeline has been developed to reduce the analysis time as well as reducing the potential for error. As each operation is performed, results and analysis parameters are appended to a data file, so in the end, the history of data processing is embedded in the file. A report and a spreadsheet are automatically generated to display the final statistics as well as how each compensation term varied during the data acquisition. This gives us valuable statistics and provides a quick starting point for investigating atypical results.