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We report on the development and application of an atomic layer etching (ALE) procedure based on alternating exposures of trimethylaluminum and anhydrous hydrogen fluoride (HF) implemented to controllably etch aluminum oxide. Our ALE…
Although silver-based telescope mirrors excel over other materials such as gold and aluminum in the visible-infrared spectral range, they require robust protective coatings to overcome their inherent low durability. Our research shows that…
We demonstrate the superior performance of fluoride coated versus oxide coated mirrors in long term vacuum operation of a high power deep-ultraviolet enhancement cavity. In high vacuum ($10^{-8}$ mbar), the fluoride optics can maintain up…
The trend towards ever larger telescopes and more advanced adaptive optics systems is driving the need for deformable mirrors with a large number of low cost actuators. Liquid mirrors have long been recognized a potential low cost…
Silver is a metal which provides the highest reflectivity in the very broad wavelength range as well as the lowest polarization splitting. However, it is not very stable chemically and silver mirrors are easily damaged in a corrosive or…
Extending plasmonics into the ultraviolet range imposes the use of aluminum to achieve the best optical performance. However, water corrosion is a major limiting issue for UV aluminum plasmonics, as this phenomenon occurs significantly…
Protection of silver mirror stacks from environmental degradation before launching is crucial for space applications. Hereby, we report a comparative study of the advanced protection of silver mirror stacks for space telescopes provided by…
The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer satellite observes light in the far-ultraviolet spectral region, 905 - 1187 A with high spectral resolution. The instrument consists of four coaligned prime-focus telescopes and Rowland…
Space safety and astronomy are at odds. The problem posed by space debris and derelict satellites in the low Earth orbit is an existential threat to all space operations. These dangerous objects in space are more easily tracked with…
Semiconductor lasers with ultra-low thresholds and minimal footprints are a topic of active research. Such devices require a combination of high quality factor laser cavities with small active region volumes, which drives the quest for…
The Far- and Lyman-Ultraviolet Imaging Demonstrator (FLUID) is a rocket-borne arcsecond-level ultraviolet (UV) imaging instrument covering four bands between 92 -- 193 nm. FLUID will observe nearby galaxies to find and characterize the most…
In the era of high-angular resolution astronomical instrumentation, where long and very long baseline interferometers (constituted by many, $\sim$ 20 or more, telescopes) are expected to work not only in the millimeter and submillimeter…
We describe a technology for the fabrication of inexpensive and versatile mirrors through the use of a new type of nanoengineered optical material composed by the spreading of a self-assembling reflective colloidal film spread at the…
The goal of ultrathin lightweight photophoretic flyers, or light-flyers for short, is to levitate continuously in Earth's upper atmosphere using only sunlight for propulsive power. We previously reported light-flyers that levitated by…
Through passively emitting excess heat to the outer space, radiative cooling has been demonstrated as an efficient way for energy saving applications. Selective surface with unity emittance only within the atmospheric window as well as zero…
We present the Phase A Science Case for the Multi-conjugate Adaptive-optics Visible Imager-Spectrograph (MAVIS), planned for the Adaptive Optics Facility (AOF) of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). MAVIS is a general-purpose instrument for…
Accurate weak-lensing analysis requires not only accurate measurement of galaxy shapes but also precise and unbiased measurement of galaxy redshifts. The photometric redshift technique appears as the only possibility to determine the…
Euclid is a space telescope currently developed in the framework of the ESA Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Program. It addresses fundamental cosmological questions related to dark matter and dark energy. The lens system of one of the two…
We present the development of Linear Astigmatism Free - Three Mirror System (LAF-TMS). This is a prototype of an off-axis telescope that enables very wide field of view (FoV) infrared satellites that can observe Paschen-$\alpha$ emission,…
Mirrors are a subset of optical components essential for the success of current and future space missions. Most of the telescopes for space programs ranging from Earth Observation to Astrophysics and covering all the electromagnetic…