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arXiv · 2607.13258

MORFEO: Advancing Towards Final Design

Lorenzo Busoni·Guido Agapito·Marco Bonaglia·Alfio Puglisi·Marco Xompero·Matteo Aliverti·Francesca Annibali·Carmelo Arcidiacono·Natalia Auricchio·Nicolò Azzaroli·Andrea Balestra·Alessandro Ballone·Louis Barbier·Andrea Baruffolo·Federico Battaini·Maria Bergomi·Andrea Bianco·Michele Cantiello·Giulio Capasso·Giulia Carlà·Enrico Cascone·Ed Chapin·Manal Chebbo·Simonetta Chinellato·Vincenzo Cianniello·Paolo Ciliegi·Mirko Colapietro·Jean-Jacques Correia·Giuseppe Cosentino·Elia Costa·Matteo D'ambrogio·Vincenzo De Caprio·Giuseppe De Luca·Nicholas Devaney·Ivan Di Antonio·Amico Di Cianno·Simone Di Filippo·Benedetta Di Francesco·Ugo Di Giammatteo·Chiara Di Prospero·Gianluca Di Rico·Andrea Di Rocco·Daphne Diretto·Christian Eredia·Simone Esposito·Jacopo Farinato·Italo Foppiani·Takashi Funakawa·Fulvio Gianotti·Laurence Gluck·Davide Greggio·Sylvain Guieu·Marco Gullieuszik·Yuuichi Harikane·Masahiro Ikoma·Laurent Jocou·Dan Kerley·Mikio Kurita·Salvatore Lampitelli·Tommaso Lapucci·Fulvio Laudisio·Yves Magnard·Demetrio Magrin·Hossein Mahmoodzadeh·Dheeraj Malik·Luca Marafatto·Laurence Michaud·Christophe Michel·Satoshi Miyazaki·Kentaro Motohara·David Mouillet·Thibaut Moulin·Matteo Munari·Kentaro Nagamine·Sylvain Oberti·Fabrice Pancher·Giorgio Pariani·Sophie Penger·Amedeo Petrella·Laurent Pinard·Cédric Plantet·Elisa Portaluri·Kalyan Radhakrishnan·Roberto Ragazzoni·Edoardo Redaelli·Edgar Renault·Colin Richardson·Marco Riva·Sylvain Rochat·Gabriele Rodeghiero·Luca Rosignoli·Bernardo Salasnich·Benoit Sassolas·Salvatore Savarese·Marcello Scalera·Pietro Schipani·Danilo Selvestrel·Mahshid Shiri·Mina Sibalic·Malcolm Smith

Abstract

The Multiconjugate adaptive Optics Relay For ELT Observations (MORFEO) is a first-generation adaptive optics module for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), designed to deliver a diffraction-limited, highly uniform 53x53 arcsec field of view to the MICADO near-infrared camera. As the project advances toward its Final Design Review (FDR), significant consolidations have been achieved across all subsystems. This paper presents an updated overview of the MORFEO system, highlighting its dual operational modes (MCAO and SCAO) and recent developments in its opto-mechanical architecture. We dedicate specific focus to the core adaptive hardware, detailing the fifth-generation post-focal deformable mirrors, the highly complex Laser Guide Star (LGS) objective zoom system required to track sodium layer variations, and the Natural Guide Star (NGS) low-order and reference sensing strategies. Furthermore, we detail the advanced pseudo-open-loop control strategy managed by a split Hard and Soft Real-Time Computer architecture. Finally, we report the latest end-to-end performance estimations obtained via the SPECULA simulation framework, demonstrating compliance with the stringent Strehl Ratio and sky coverage requirements under median atmospheric conditions.

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Lorenzo Busoni, Guido Agapito, Marco Bonaglia, Alfio Puglisi, Marco Xompero, Matteo Aliverti, Francesca Annibali, Carmelo Arcidiacono, Natalia Auricchio, Nicolò Azzaroli, Andrea Balestra, Alessandro Ballone, Louis Barbier, Andrea Baruffolo, Federico Battaini, Maria Bergomi, Andrea Bianco, Michele Cantiello, Giulio Capasso, Giulia Carlà, Enrico Cascone, Ed Chapin, Manal Chebbo, Simonetta Chinellato, Vincenzo Cianniello, Paolo Ciliegi, Mirko Colapietro, Jean-Jacques Correia, Giuseppe Cosentino, Elia Costa, Matteo D'ambrogio, Vincenzo De Caprio, Giuseppe De Luca, Nicholas Devaney, Ivan Di Antonio, Amico Di Cianno, Simone Di Filippo, Benedetta Di Francesco, Ugo Di Giammatteo, Chiara Di Prospero, Gianluca Di Rico, Andrea Di Rocco, Daphne Diretto, Christian Eredia, Simone Esposito, Jacopo Farinato, Italo Foppiani, Takashi Funakawa, Fulvio Gianotti, Laurence Gluck, Davide Greggio, Sylvain Guieu, Marco Gullieuszik, Yuuichi Harikane, Masahiro Ikoma, Laurent Jocou, Dan Kerley, Mikio Kurita, Salvatore Lampitelli, Tommaso Lapucci, Fulvio Laudisio, Yves Magnard, Demetrio Magrin, Hossein Mahmoodzadeh, Dheeraj Malik, Luca Marafatto, Laurence Michaud, Christophe Michel, Satoshi Miyazaki, Kentaro Motohara, David Mouillet, Thibaut Moulin, Matteo Munari, Kentaro Nagamine, Sylvain Oberti, Fabrice Pancher, Giorgio Pariani, Sophie Penger, Amedeo Petrella, Laurent Pinard, Cédric Plantet, Elisa Portaluri, Kalyan Radhakrishnan, Roberto Ragazzoni, Edoardo Redaelli, Edgar Renault, Colin Richardson, Marco Riva, Sylvain Rochat, Gabriele Rodeghiero, Luca Rosignoli, Bernardo Salasnich, Benoit Sassolas, Salvatore Savarese, Marcello Scalera, Pietro Schipani, Danilo Selvestrel, Mahshid Shiri, Mina Sibalic, Malcolm Smith. 2026-07-14. MORFEO: Advancing Towards Final Design. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21127865

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