Related papers: Stellar Intensity Interferometry: Prospects for su…
Astronomers usually need the highest angular resolution possible, but the blurring effect of diffraction imposes a fundamental limit on the image quality from any single telescope. Interferometry allows light collected at widely-separated…
Stellar intensity interferometry consists in measuring the correlation of the light intensity fluctuations at two telescopes observing the same star. The amplitude of the correlation is directly related to the luminosity distribution of the…
In recent years, intensity interferometry has seen renewed interest and successful application at Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope arrays. These measurements are usually performed during bright moon periods while the instruments'…
Astronomical imaging can be broadly classified into two types. The first type is amplitude interferometry, which includes conventional optical telescopes and Very Large Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). The second type is intensity…
The present generation of ground-based Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-ray observatories consist of arrays of up to four large (> 12m diameter) light collectors quite similar to those used by R. Hanbury Brown to measure stellar diameters by…
Ground-based Cherenkov telescopes, although typically inoperative during moonlit nights for gamma-ray observations, offer a valuable opportunity for secondary scientific applications through Intensity Interferometry (II). Recent…
Intensity interferometry exploits a quantum optical effect in order to measure objects with extremely small angular scales. The first experiment to use this technique was the Narrabri intensity interferometer, which was successfully used in…
Intensity interferometry, based on the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect, is a simple and inexpensive method for optical interferometry at microarcsecond angular resolutions; its use in astronomy was abandoned in the 1970s because of low…
In this poster contribution we highlight the equivalence between an Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope (IACT) array and an Intensity Interferometer for a range of technical requirements. We touch on the differences between a Michelson and an…
Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) currently in operation feature large mirrors and order of 1 ns time response to signals of a few photo-electrons produced by optical photons. This means that they are ideally suited for…
The current status of the high spatial resolution imaging interferometry in optical astronomy is reviewed in the light of theoretical explanation, as well as of experimental constraints that exist in the present day technology. The basic…
The space-time correlations of streams of photons can provide fundamentally new channels of information about the Universe. Today's astronomical observations essentially measure certain amplitude coherence functions produced by a source.…
Sub-milliarcsecond imaging of nearby main sequence stars and binary systems can provide critical information on stellar phenomena such as rotational deformation, accretion effects, and the universality of starspot (sunspot) cycles.…
Improved quantum sensing of photons from astronomical objects could provide high resolution observations in the optical benefiting numerous fields, including general relativity, dark matter studies, and cosmology. It has been recently…
In recent years, imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) have emerged as promising platforms for optical interferometry through the use of intensity interferometry. IACTs combine large segmented mirrors, photodetectors with…
Experiments are in progress to prepare for intensity interferometry with arrays of air Cherenkov telescopes. At the Bonneville Seabase site, near Salt Lake City, a testbed observatory has been set up with two 3-m air Cherenkov telescopes on…
We present measurements of the second order spatial coherence function of thermal light sources using Hanbury-Brown and Twiss interferometry with a digital correlator. We demonstrate that intensity fluctuations between orthogonal…
Future large arrays of telescopes, used as intensity interferometers, can be used to image the surfaces of stars with unprecedented angular resolution. Fast-rotating, hot stars are particularly attractive targets for intensity…
The Narrabri intensity interferometer was successfully used until 1974 to observe 32 stars, all brighter than B=+2.5, among which some were found to have an angular diameter as small as 0.41+/-0.03 milli-arc-seconds (mas). The technique was…
Stellar Intensity Interferometry is a technique based on the measurement of the second order spatial correlation of the light emitted from a star. The physical information provided by these measurements is the angular size and structure of…