Real-time shift-and-add image sharpening with ALICE

We describe the shift-and-add performance of ALICE (array limited infrared control environment) with the IRCAM3 near-IR 256 X 256 camera on the UK Infrared Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. One-hundred-twenty-eight X one-hundred-twenty-eight sub-areas of the array can be read out in shift-and-add mode with exposure times of 20 ms, and observing efficiency of 100%. The system has produced images at K which show several diffraction rings and a central core of FWHM 0.15 arcseconds, and strehl ratios of 0.1 to 0.3 have been observed. At nbL (3.4 microns), strehl ratios of 0.4 have been achieved. Close binary systems (< 0.2 arcseconds) have been well resolved whilst the time-averaged seeing was approximately 0.7 arcseconds. We describe the techniques used to achieve this performance, and present some results of recent observations made using the system as well as giving an overview of current and planned applications of the ALICE system.