Related papers: Tests with a Carlina-type diluted telescope; Prima…
Context. The performance of interferometers has largely been increased over the last ten years. But the number of observable objects is still limited due to the low sensitivity and imaging capability of the current facilities. Studies have…
We present a method for attaining sub-arcsecond pointing stability during sub- orbital balloon flights, as designed for in the High Altitude Lensing Observatory (HALO) concept. The pointing method presented here has the potential to perform…
The Next Generation Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST-TNG) is a submillimeter mapping experiment planned for a 28 day long-duration balloon (LDB) flight from McMurdo Station, Antarctica during the 2018-2019 season.…
The lightweighting and surface accuracy targeted for NGST's 8 m primary mirror has been demonstrated in a 0.5 m prototype. Now a second, 2 m prototype weighing 40 kg in total is being fabricated at the University of Arizona under the NGST…
We have studied the feasibility and scientific potential of zenith observing liquid mirror telescopes having 20 to 100 m diameters located on the moon. They would carry out deep infrared surveys to study the distant universe and follow up…
Optical interferometers with suspended mirrors are the archetype of all current audio-frequency gravitational-wave detectors. The radiation pressure interaction between the motion of the mirror and the circulating optical field in such…
The protoMIRAX hard X-ray imaging telescope is a balloon-borne experiment developed as a pathfinder for the MIRAX satellite mission. The experiment consists essentially in a coded-aperture hard X-ray (30-200 keV) imager with a square array…
This paper presents an analysis of the conceptual design of a novel silicon suspension for the cryogenic test-mass mirrors of the low-frequency detector of the Einstein Telescope gravitational-wave observatory. In traditional suspensions,…
Technological advances will allow the placement of many Terahertz detectors at the focal plane of a single telescope. For a telescope of a given diameter and wavelength of operation, there is a limit to the number of usable detectors…
A long-held astronomical vision is to realize diffraction-limited optical aperture synthesis over kilometer baselines. This will enable imaging of stellar surfaces and their environments, show their evolution over time, and reveal…
One key advantage of single-mode photonic technologies for interferometric use is their ability to easily scale to an ever increasing number of inputs without a major increase in the overall device size, compared to traditional bulk optics.…
Observations at mas-resolution scales and high dynamic range hold a central place in achieving, for instance, the spectroscopic characterization of exo-Earths or the detailed mapping of their protoplanetary disc birthplace. Ground or…
A long-held vision has been to realize diffraction-limited optical aperture synthesis over kilometer baselines. This will enable imaging of stellar surfaces and their environments, and reveal interacting gas flows in binary systems. An…
The Fresnel Interferometric Imager is a space-based astronomical telescope project yielding milli-arc second angular resolution and high contrast images with loose manufacturing constraints. This optical concept involves diffractive…
The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry (BLAST-Pol) is a suborbital mapping experiment designed to study the role played by magnetic fields in the star formation process. BLAST-Pol is the reconstructed BLAST…
We present the antenna design for a radio interferometer, the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager, together with its beam pattern measurement. Our aim was to develop a low-cost system with high aperture efficiency and low ground-spill across the…
PoGOLite is a hard X-ray polarimeter operating in the 25-100 keV energy band. The instrument design is optimised for the observation of compact astrophysical sources. Observations are conducted from a stabilised stratospheric balloon…
Einstein Telescope (ET) is expected to achieve sensitivity improvements exceeding an order of magnitude compared to current gravitational-wave detectors. The rigorous characterization in optical birefringence of materials and coatings has…
The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry (BLASTPol) was created by adding polarimetric capability to the BLAST experiment that was flown in 2003, 2005, and 2006. BLASTPol inherited BLAST's 1.8 m primary and…
We review the present status of liquid mirror telescopes. Interferometric tests of liquid mirrors (the largest one having a diameter of 2.5 meters ) show excellent optical qualities. The basic technology is now sufficiently reliable that it…