  A new high-order adaptive optics system is now being commissioned at the Lick
Observatory Shane 3-meter telescope in California. This system uses a high
return efficiency sodium beacon and a combination of low and high-order
deformable mirrors to achieve diffraction-limited imaging over a wide spectrum
of infrared science wavelengths covering 0.8 to 2.2 microns. We present the
design performance goals and the first on-sky test results. We discuss several
innovations that make this system a pathfinder for next generation AO systems.
These include a unique woofer-tweeter control that provides full dynamic range
correction from tip/tilt to 16 cycles, variable pupil sampling wavefront
sensor, new enhanced silver coatings developed at UC Observatories that improve
science and LGS throughput, and tight mechanical rigidity that enables a
multi-hour diffraction- limited exposure in LGS mode for faint object
spectroscopy science.
