Related papers: MEMS practice, from the lab to the telescope
Sensitivity and resolution of space telescopes are directly related to the size of the primary mirror. Enabling such future extremely large space telescopes or even arrays of those will require to drastically reduce the areal weight of the…
An Adaptive secondary mirror (ASM) allows for the integration of adaptive optics (AO) into the telescope itself. Adaptive secondary mirrors, based on hybrid variable reluctance (HVR) actuator technology, developed by TNO, provide a…
The Deformable Mirror Simulator (DMS) is an optical device reproducing the F/13 beam from the adaptive secondary mirror of the Very Large Telescope UT4. The system has been designed and integrated as a test tool for the calibration and…
One important frontier for astronomical adaptive optics (AO) involves methods such as Multi-Object AO and Multi-Conjugate AO that have the potential to give a significantly larger field of view than conventional AO techniques. A second key…
We present a detailed discussion of how to obtain precise stellar photometry in crowded fields using images from multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) systems, with the intent of informing the scientific development of this key technology…
Recent work by Oberti et al, (Astron. Astrophys., 667, 48, 2022) argued and made a compelling case that classical astronomical adaptive optics (AO) tomography performance can be further enhanced by carefully designing and optically…
We present a simple technique to produce active Q-switching in various types of fiber amplifiers by active integration of an electrostatic actuated deformable metallic micro-mirror. The optical MEMS (MOEMS) device acts as one of the laser…
Silicon-based micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) can be fabricated using bulk and surface micromachining technology. A micro mirror designed as an oscillatory MEMS constitutes a prominent example. Typically, in order to minimize energy…
We analise the efficiency of wavefront reconstruction in the MultiConjugate Adaptive Optics system for the European Solar Telescope (EST). We present preliminary results derived from numerical simulations. We study a 4 meter class telescope…
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…
Over the past fifty years, wavefront sensing technology has continuously evolved from basic techniques to high-precision systems, serving as a core methodology in adaptive optics (AO). Beyond traditional wavefront retrieval methods based on…
As we enter the era of TESS and JWST, instrumentation that can carry out radial velocity measurements of exoplanet systems is in high demand. We will address this demand by upgrading the UC Lick Observatory's 2.4-meter Automated Planet…
Adaptive Optics is a prime example of how progress in observational astronomy can be driven by technological developments. At many observatories it is now considered to be part of a standard instrumentation suite, enabling ground-based…
The Gemini Planet Imager instrument's adaptive optics (AO) subsystem was designed specifically to facilitate high-contrast imaging. It features several new technologies, including computationally efficient wavefront reconstruction with the…
We present a beam steering system based on micro-electromechanical systems technology that features high speed steering of multiple laser beams over a broad wavelength range. By utilizing high speed micromirrors with a broadband metallic…
A multi-level tunable reflection array wide-angle beam scanning method is proposed to address the limited bandwidth and small scanning angle issues of current terahertz beam scanning technology. In this method, a focusing lens and its array…
Adaptive optics systems are essential on all large telescopes where image quality is important. These are complex systems with many design parameters requiring optimisation before good performance can be achieved. The simulation of adaptive…
In astronomy and microscopy, distortions in the wavefront affect the dynamic range of a high contrast imaging system. These aberrations are either imposed by a turbulent medium such as the atmosphere, by static or thermal aberrations in the…
Space-based stellar coronagraph instruments aim to directly image exoplanets that are a fraction of an arcsecond separation and ten billion times fainter than their host star. To achieve this, one or more deformable mirrors (DMs) are used…
Miniature lenses with tunable focus are essential components for many modern applications involving compact optical systems. While several tunable lenses have been reported with various tuning mechanisms, they often still face challenges in…