Related papers: Parabolic Strip Telescope
The ALFA laser subsystem uses a 4 watt continuous wave laser beam to produce an artificial guide star in the mesospheric sodium layer as a reference for wavefront sensing. In this article we describe the system design, focusing on the…
The spaceborne laser emission telescope is a core and critical component of the space gravitational wave detection system.Compared with ground-based telescopes, the on-orbit space environment is more complex and harsh, presenting higher…
We present geometrical and physical optics simulation results for the Simons Observatory Large Aperture Telescope. This work was developed as part of the general design process for the telescope; allowing us to evaluate the impact of…
Background. Relative astrometry at or below the micro-arcsec level with a 1m class space telescope has been repeatedly proposed as a tool for exo-planet detection and characterization, as well as for several topics at the forefront of…
Context. High accuracy astrometric instruments like Gaia aiming at an accuracy of 1 microarcsecond cannot be considered as point-like observers in the framework of relativistic modelling of observable quantities. Aims. Special-relativistic…
Equipped with a suitable optical relay system, telescopes employing low-cost fixed primary mirrors could point and track while delivering high-quality images to a fixed location. Such an optical tracking system would enable liquid-mirror…
Conventional mirrors obey Snell's reflection law: a plane wave is reflected as a plane wave, at the same angle. To engineer spatial distributions of fields reflected from a mirror, one can either shape the reflector (for example, creating a…
Optical Doppler shift demonstration experiments are not a simple task since the light source cannot usually be moved in a sufficiently smooth and uniform manner to keep the level of noise well below of that of the signal. For that reason…
Segmented primary mirrors are indispensable to master the steady increase in spatial resolution. Phasing optics systems must reduce segment misalignments to guarantee the high optical quality required for astronomical science programs.…
We propose a wavefront-based method to estimate the PSF over the whole field of view. This method estimate the aberrations of all the mirrors of the telescope using only field stars. In this proof of concept paper, we described the method…
We present here a new robotic telescope called TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope). Equipped with a high-quality CCD camera mounted on a 0.6 meter light weight optical tube, TRAPPIST has been installed in April…
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…
Wide field interferometry has become a subject of increasing interest in the recent years. New methods have been suggested in order to avoid the drawbacks of the standard wide-field method (homothetic mapping) which is not applicable when…
A novel type of a continuously zoomable telescope is based on two pairs of adjacent toroidal lenses ("saddle lenses") in combination with standard optical components. Its variable magnification is adjusted by a mere rotation of the four…
We develop the theoretical foundation for primary objective grating (POG) telescopy. In recent years, a wide range of telescope designs that collect the light over a large grating and focus it with a secondary receiving optic that is placed…
We develop a proto-model of an off-axis reflective telescope for infrared wide-field observations based on the design of Schwarzschild-Chang type telescope. With only two mirrors, this design achieves an entrance pupil diameter of 50 mm and…
Adaptive Optics has become a key technology for the largest ground-based telescopes currently under or close to begin of construction. Adaptive optics is an indispensable component and has basically only one task, that is to operate the…
Directly imaging Earth-like exoplanets (``exoEarths'') with a coronagraph instrument on a space telescope requires a stable wavefront with optical path differences limited to tens of picometers RMS during exposure times of a few hours.…
Glints of light from specular reflection of the Sun are a technosignature of artificial satellites. If extraterrestrial intelligences have left artifacts in the Solar System, these may include flat mirror-like surfaces that also can glint.…
This paper presents a unique approach to the problem of calculating revisit time metrics for different satellite orbits, sensor geometries, and constellation configurations with application to early lifecycle design and optimisation…