Related papers: Mirror actively deformed and regulated for applica…
It is widely believed that adaptive optics only has a role in correcting turbulent wavefronts on large telescopes using very bright reference stars. Unfortunately these are very scarce and many astronomical targets require wavefront…
The increasing interest in spacecraft autonomy and the complex tasks to be accomplished by the spacecraft raise the need for a trustworthy approach to perform Verification & Validation of Guidance, Navigation, and Control algorithms. In the…
We present a liquid crystal method of correcting the phase of an aberrated wavefront using a spatial light modulator. A simple and efficient lab model has been demonstrated for wavefront correction. The crux of a wavefront correcting system…
Advances in micro deformable mirror (DM) technologies such as MEMs, have stimulated interest in the characteristics of systems that include a high stroke mirror in series with a high actuator count mirror. This arrangement is referred to as…
We present the conceptual design and initial development of the Hysteretic Deformable Mirror (HDM). The HDM is a completely new approach to the design and operation of deformable mirrors for wavefront correction in advanced imaging systems.…
This paper describes a concept for the high-accuracy absolute calibration of the instrumental polarization introduced by the primary mirror of a large-aperture telescope. This procedure requires a small aperture with polarization…
A K-mirror is a device that rotates the wavefront of an incident optical field. It has recently gained prominence over Dove prism, another commonly used wavefront rotator, due to the fact that while a K-mirror has several controls for…
First mirrors will be the plasma facing components of optical diagnostic systems in ITER. Mirror surfaces will undergo modification caused by erosion and re-deposition processes [1,2]. As a consequence, the mirror performance may be changed…
We propose and experimentally demonstrate the Transformable Reflective Telescope (TRT) Kit for educational purposes and for performing various optical tests with a single kit. The TRT Kit is a portable optical bench setup suitable for…
Many adaptive optics systems operate by measuring the distortion of the wavefront in one wavelength range and performing the scientific observations in a second, different wavelength range. One common technique is to measure wavefront…
As the first generation of laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors near operation, research and development has begun on increasing the instrument's sensitivity while utilizing the existing infrastructure. In the Laser…
Context. The diffusion of adaptive optics systems in astronomical instrumentation for large ground-based telescopes is rapidly increasing and the pyramid wavefront sensor is replacing the Shack-Hartmann as the standard solution for single…
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…
Optical resonators are increasingly important tools in science and technology. Their applications range from laser physics, atomic clocks, molecular spectroscopy, and single-photon generation to the detection, trapping and cooling of atoms…
Reconfigurable optics, optical systems that have a dynamically tunable configuration, are emerging as a new frontier in photonics research. Recently, twisted moir\'e photonic crystal has become a competitive candidate for implementing…
We have created a new autonomous laser-guide-star adaptive-optics (AO) instrument on the 60-inch (1.5-m) telescope at Palomar Observatory called Robo-AO. The instrument enables diffraction-limited resolution observing in the visible and…
We study the effect of finite size and misalignment on a fundamental optomechanical setup: a Fabry-P\'erot cavity with one fixed and one moveable mirror. We describe in detail light confinement under these real world imperfections and…
A new design is proposed for large (up to 6-m) liquid mirror containers. The design uses Kevlar, foam and aluminum, as in previous designs, but with a different configuration that makes the container lighter, stronger and more rigid. The…
We present modeling and analysis of a hysteretic deformable mirror where the facesheet interacts with a continuous layer of piezoelectric material that can be actuated distributively by a matrix of electrodes through multiplexing. Moreover,…
The Astro2010 Decadal Survey recommended a Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) as its top priority for a new large space mission. As conceived by the decadal survey, WFIRST would carry out a dark energy science program, a…