Related papers: The opto-mechanical alignment procedure of the VLT…
LINC-NIRVANA (LN) is a high resolution, near infrared imager that uses a multiple field-of-view, layer-oriented, multi-conjugate AO system, consisting of four multi-pyramid wavefront sensors (two for each arm of the Large Binocular…
This paper describes a concept for the high-accuracy absolute calibration of the instrumental polarization introduced by the primary mirror of a large-aperture telescope. This procedure requires a small aperture with polarization…
The next generation of large ground-based optical and infrared telescopes will provide new challenges for designers of astronomical instrumentation. The varied science cases for these extremely large telescopes (ELTs) require a large range…
ESPRESSO is the new high-resolution spectrograph of ESO's Very-Large Telescope (VLT). It was designed for ultra-high radial-velocity precision and extreme spectral fidelity with the aim of performing exoplanet research and fundamental…
We propose and experimentally demonstrate the Transformable Reflective Telescope (TRT) Kit for educational purposes and for performing various optical tests with a single kit. The TRT Kit is a portable optical bench setup suitable for…
We review the current status of the facility instrumentation for the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). The LBT has 2x 8.4m primary mirrors on a single mount with an effective collecting area of 11.8m or 23m when interferometrically combined.…
A form of prime focus corrector for the Gregory system is proposed that provides the sub-arcsecond field of view up to 3 degrees in diameter for the spectral range 0.35-0.90 microns. The corrector includes five lenses made of same glass…
The technique of remote refocusing is used in optical microscopy to provide rapid axial scanning without mechanically perturbing the sample and in techniques such as oblique plane microscopy that build on remote refocusing to image a tilted…
VIMOS (VIsible Multi-Object Spectrograph) is a multi-object imaging spectrograph installed at the VLT (Very large Telescope) at the ESO (European Southern Observatory) Paranal Observatory, especially suited for survey work. VIMOS is…
In the present paper, we consider the optical design of a zoom system for the active refocusing in laser guide star wavefront sensors. The system is designed according to the specifications coming from the Extremely Large Telescope…
The Large Size Telescope (LST) of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is designed to achieve a threshold energy of 20 GeV. The LST optics is composed of one parabolic primary mirror 23 m in diameter and 28 m focal length. The reflector dish…
Large-volume optical coherence tomography (OCT)-setups employ scanning mirrors and suffer from non-linear geometric distortion artifacts in which the degree of distortion is determined by the maximum angles over which the mirrors rotate. In…
Extremely large telescopes (ELTs) are considered worldwide to be one of the highest priorities in ground-based astronomy. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is developing an ELT that will have a 39 m main mirror and will be the largest…
I argue that there is a crisis in optical Astronomy due to a paucity of telescopes and thus the need for a paradigm shift in telescope technology. Large increases in collecting areas and observing time/astronomer are only possible if we…
The ELT is a 39m large, ground-based optical and near- to mid-infrared telescope under construction in the Chilean Atacama desert. Operation is planned to start around the middle of the next decade. All first light instruments will come…
Adaptive (or deformable) mirrors are widely used as wavefront correctors in adaptive optics systems. The optical calibration of an adaptive mirror is a fundamental step during its life-cycle: the process is in facts required to compute a…
Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) need imaging optics with large apertures to map the faint Cherenkov light emitted in extensive air showers onto their image sensors. Segmented reflectors fulfill these needs using mass…
ESO's two FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrographs (FORS) are the primary imaging cameras for the VLT. Since they are not direct-imaging cameras, the accuracy of photometry which can routinely be obtained is limited by significant sky…
The Virtual Telescope for X-ray Observations (VTXO) will use lightweight Phase Fresnel Lenses (PFLs) in a virtual X-ray telescope with $\sim$1 km focal length and with $\sim$50 milli-arcsecond angular resolution. VTXO is formed by using…
The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) experiment is one of the largest observatories for gamma-ray astronomy. It consists of four telescopes with a reflecting dish diameter of 12m (CT1 to CT4) and a newer large telescope (CT5) with…