Related papers: Active shape correction of a thin glass/plastic X-…
We present a new kind of varifocal mirror with independently adjustable curvatures in the major directions. For actuation we use two stacked piezo bending actuators with crossed in-plane polarization. This mirror can be used for example as…
Deformable mirrors are increasingly used in astronomy. However, they still are limited in stroke for active correction of high amplitude optical aberrations. Magnetic Liquid deformable mirrors (MLDMs) are a new technology that has…
Interest in pupil-remapping interferometry, in which a single telescope pupil is fragmented and recombined using fiber optic technologies, has been growing among a number of groups. As a logical extrapolation from several highly successful…
Multi-object adaptive optics (MOAO) has been demonstrated by the CANARY instrument on the William Herschel Telescope. However, for proposed MOAO systems on the next generation Extremely Large Telescopes, such as EAGLE, many challenges…
MagAO-X is the extreme coronagraphic adaptive optics (AO) instrument for the 6.5-meter Magellan Clay telescope and is currently undergoing a comprehensive batch of upgrades. One innovation that the instrument features is a deformable mirror…
We investigate the aspherization of an active mirror for correcting third and fifth-order aberrations. We use a stainless steel AISI 420 mirror with a controlled pressure load, two series of 12-punctual radial positions of force application…
Astronomical telescopes suffer from a tradeoff between field of view (FoV) and image resolution: increasing the FoV leads to an optical field that is under-sampled by the science camera. This work presents a novel computational imaging…
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…
We are developing instrumentation for a telescope design capable of measuring linear X-ray polarization over a broad-band using conventional spectroscopic optics. Multilayer-coated mirrors are key to this approach, being used as Bragg…
Context. Adaptive optics (AO) is now a tool commonly deployed in astronomy. The real time correction of the atmospheric turbulence that AO enables allows telescopes to perform close to the diffraction limit at the core of their point spread…
Optical aberrations prevent telescopes from reaching their theoretical diffraction limit. Once estimated, these aberrations can be compensated for using deformable mirrors in a closed loop. Focal plane wavefront sensing enables the…
We propose an effective route to fully control the phase of plane waves reflected from electrically (optically) thin sheets. This becomes possible using engineered artificial full-reflection layers (metamirrors) as arrays of electrically…
Microscope objectives achieve near diffraction-limited performance only when used under the conditions they are designed for. In non-standard geometries, such as thick cover slips or curved surfaces, severe aberrations arise, inevitably…
We present a scheme for active compensation of complex extrinsic polarization perturbations introduced into an optical system. Imaging polarimeter is used to measure the polarization state across a beam profile and a liquid crystal spatial…
Cassegrain designs can be used to build thin lenses. We analyze the relationships between system thickness and aperture sizes of the two mirrors as well as FoV size. Our analysis shows that decrease in lens thickness imposes tight…
Modern extreme adaptive optics (AO) systems achieving diffraction-limited performance open up new possibilities for instrumentation. Especially important for the fields of spectroscopy and interferometry is that it enables the prospect to…
Integrated optics are used to achieve astronomical interferometry inside robust and compact materials, improving the instrument's stability and sensitivity. In order to perform differential phase measurements at the H$\alpha$ line (656.3…
Optical tweezers have been widely used for optical manipulation of various particles. At present, there are different type of optical tweezers. Among them, holographic optical tweezers have attracted growing attention as a powerful tools…
The Smart Focal Planes (SmartFP) activity is a European Joint Research Activity funded to develop novel optical technologies for future large telescope instrumentation. In this paper, we will discuss the image slicer developments being…
Hair-thin optical fiber endoscopes have opened up new paradigms for advanced imaging applications in vivo. In certain applications, such as optical coherence tomography (OCT), light-shaping structures may be required on fiber facets to…