Related papers: Active deployable primary mirrors on CubeSat
Motivated by the ever increasing pursuit of science with the transient sky (dubbed Time Domain Astronomy or TDA), we are fabricating and will commission a new deployable tertiary mirror for the Keck I telescope (K1DM3) at the W.M. Keck…
The surface figure of x-ray mirrors can be improved by differential deposition of thin films. To achieve the required corrections, WSi2 layers of variable thickness were deposited through beam-defining apertures of different openings. The…
Recent advances in optical metasurfaces enable control of the wavefront, polarization and dispersion of optical waves beyond the capabilities of conventional diffractive optics. An optical design space that is poised to highly benefit from…
In this work, sub-ppb aerosol detection is achieved by femtosecond laser filament with a single pulse energy of 4 mJ at a distance of 30 m. A concave mirror with an open aperture of 41.4 cm is employed in an off-axis optical system to focus…
The utilization of a 6.5m monolithic primary mirror in a compact three-mirror anastigmat (TMA) telescope design offers unprecedented capabilities to accommodate various next generation science instruments. This design enables the rapid and…
Cubesats present unique opportunities for observational astronomy in the modern era. They are useful in observing difficult-to-access wavelength regions and long-term monitoring of interesting astronomical sources. However, conventional…
We have realized a suspended, high-reflectivity focusing metamirror ($f\approx 10$ cm, $\mathcal{R} \approx 99\%$) by non-periodic photonic crystal patterning of a Si$_3$N$_4$ membrane. The design enables construction of a stable, short…
This paper focuses on the optimal design of a modulated retroreflector (MRR) laser link to establish a high-speed downlink for cube satellites (CubeSats), taking into account the weight and power limitations commonly encountered by these…
Exceptional pulse contrast can be critical for ultraintense laser experiments, particularly when using solid density targets, and their use is becoming widespread. However, current plasma mirror technology is becoming inadequate for the new…
We present an imaging framework which converts three images from a gated camera into high-resolution depth maps with depth accuracy comparable to pulsed lidar measurements. Existing scanning lidar systems achieve low spatial resolution at…
When the first CubeSats were launched nearly two decades ago, few people believed that the miniature satellites would likely prove to be a useful scientific tool. Skeptics abounded. However, the last decade has seen the highly successful…
Due to turbulence in the atmosphere images taken from ground-based telescopes become distorted. With adaptive optics (AO) images can be given greater clarity allowing for better observations with existing telescopes and are essential for…
Optics for future X-ray telescopes will be characterized by very large aperture and focal length, and will be made of lightweight materials like glass or silicon in order to keep the total mass within acceptable limits. Optical modules…
Active transmissive metasurfaces are central building blocks for future compact, cascadable optical systems, enabling the stacking of multiple functional layers for advanced dynamic beam shaping, photonic neural networks, depth sensing, and…
An approach towards wireless ranging and synchronization using commercial of-the-shelf software-defined radio payloads for small satellites, esp. CubeSats is studied. The approach only relies on the programmable logic configuration and…
In this paper we are exploring the possibilities of 3D printing in the fabrication of mirrors for astronomy. Taking the advantages of 3D printing to solve the existing problems caused by traditional manufacturing, two proof-of-concept…
Precision wavefront control on future segmented-aperture space telescopes presents significant challenges, particularly in the context of high-contrast exoplanet direct imaging. We present a new wavefront control architecture that…
Space-based stellar coronagraph instruments aim to directly image exoplanets that are a fraction of an arcsecond separation and ten billion times fainter than their host star. To achieve this, one or more deformable mirrors (DMs) are used…
There are scientific and technological needs to improve the co-phasing of the primary mirrors of segmented telescopes. We have developed a methodology for using the wavefront sensor of an adaptive optics (AO) system to disentangle the phase…
In recent years the number of CubeSats (U-class spacecrafts) launched into space has increased exponentially marking the dawn of the nanosatellite technology. In general these satellites have a much smaller mass budget compared to…