Related papers: MEMS practice, from the lab to the telescope
As part of the National Science Foundation funded "Gemini in the Era of MultiMessenger Astronomy" (GEMMA) program, Gemini Observatory is developing GNAO, a widefield adaptive optics (AO) facility for Gemini-North on Maunakea, the only…
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have been applied to many measurement problems in physics, chemistry, biology and medicine. In parallel, cavity optomechanical systems have achieved quantum-limited displacement sensitivity and ground…
*To be published in Springer Handbook of Surface Science (Springer Verlag) [Preprint]* The capability to display images containing chemical, magnetic and structural information and to perform spectroscopy and diffraction from a {\mu}m-sized…
Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) are nano-to-micrometer scale mechanical resonators coupled to electronic devices of similar dimensions. NEMS show promise for fast, ultrasensitive force microscopy and for deepening our understanding of…
Astrometry was not a science case of the Gemini Multiconjugate adaptive optics System (GeMS) at its design stage. However, since GeMS has been in regular science operation with the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI), their…
The main objective of the present project is to explore the viability of an adaptive optics control system based exclusively on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), making strong use of their parallel processing capability. In an…
Whether is ground-based or space-based, any optical instrument suffers from some amount of optical geometric distortion. Recently, the diffraction-limited image quality afforded by space-based telescopes and by Adaptive Optics (AO)…
Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) is essential for increasing the corrected Field-of-View (FoV) in astronomical imaging and potentially for free-space optical communications, particularly for small-aperture, transportable systems. We…
Ground-based direct imaging surveys like the Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey (GPIES) rely on Adaptive Optics (AO) systems to image and characterize exoplanets that are up to a million times fainter than their host stars. One factor…
We present the motivation and early tests for a novel solar instrument that will harness the new High Efficiency Pixel (HEP) Texas Instruments DLP801RE Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) as a reconfigurable spatial light modulator. This…
In conventional optical microscopes, image contrast of objects mainly results from the differences in light intensity and/or color. Muller matrix optical microscopes (MMMs), on the other hand, can provide significantly enhanced image…
We demonstrate here a proof-of-concept experiment that microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) can be actuated using photoelectrowetting. In order to demonstrate this, a 30 \mu m thick aluminum cantilever is actuated using an ordinary white…
The next generation of large telescopes for direct imaging of exoplanets will require segmented primary mirrors. Over both long and short timescales, these telescopes experience segment misalignments which degrade the final science image.…
A metasurface lens (meta-lens) bends light using nanostructures on a flat surface. Macroscopic meta-lenses (mm- to cm-scale diameter) have been quite difficult to simulate and optimize, due to the large area, the lack of periodicity, and…
The advent of memristors and resistive switching has transformed solid state physics, enabling advanced applications such as neuromorphic computing. Inspired by these developments, we introduce the concept of Mem-emitters, devices that…
The Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) is an integral field spectrograph on the Very Large Telescope Unit Telescope 4, capable of laser guide star assisted and tomographic adaptive optics using the GALACSI module. Its observing…
The field of microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) for photonic integrated circuits (PICs) is reviewed. This field leverages mechanics at the nanometer to micrometer scale to improve existing components and introduce novel functionalities…
The future generation of telescopes will be equipped with multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) systems in order to obtain high angular resolution over large fields of view. MCAO comes in two flavors: star- and layer-oriented. Existing…
The imaging performance of an optical microscope can be degraded by sample-induced aberrations. A general strategy to undo the effect of these aberrations is to apply wavefront correction with a deformable mirror (DM). In most cases, the DM…
Wide Field Adaptive Optics (WFAO) systems are among the most sophisticated AO systems available today on large telescopes. The knowledge of the vertical spatio-temporal distribution of the wind speed (WS) and direction (WD) are fundamental…