Adaptive optics development at the German solar telescopes

We present an overview of the past achievements and future developments of adaptive optics (AO) for the German solar telescopes. The basic design considerations as well as the differences in wavefront sensing between solar and stellar AO are presented. The AO systems at the 0.7m Vacuum Tower Telescope and the new 1.5m GREGOR Telescope, Tenerife, the image stabilization and active optics for the 1.0mSUNRISE balloon-borne telescope, and the ongoing multiconjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) development for GREGOR are described. The MCAO for GREGOR also serves as a test bed for the planned European Solar Telescope.

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