Status of the GRAAL system development: very wide-field correction with 4 laser guide-stars

We recall the design and present the development status of GRAAL, the Ground-layer adaptive optics assisted by Laser, which will deliver wide-field (10 arcmin), enhanced images to the HAWK-I instrument on the VLT, with an improved seeing. GRAAL is an adaptive optics module, part of the Adaptive optics facility (AOF), using four Laser- and one natural guide-stars to measure the turbulence, and correcting for it by deforming the adaptive secondary mirror of a Unit telescope in the Paranal observatory. GRAAL is in the laboratory in Europe and the integration of its laser guide-star optics is completed. The first wave-front sensor camera will be ready for its integration in the coming weeks, allowing the first system tests to start.