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An Adaptive secondary mirror (ASM) allows for the integration of adaptive optics (AO) into the telescope itself. Adaptive secondary mirrors, based on hybrid variable reluctance (HVR) actuator technology, developed by TNO, provide a…
We propose a methodology to measure the mechanical properties of membranes from their fluctuations and apply this to optical microscopy measurements of giant unilamellar vesicles of lipids. We analyze the effect of the projection of thermal…
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…
Plasma-based optics have emerged as a powerful platform for manipulating and amplifying ultra-intense laser pulses. However, the inherently nonlinear and dynamic nature of plasma leads to significant spatial, spectral, and temporal…
Extreme wavefront correction is required for coronagraphs on future space telescopes to reach 1e-8 or better starlight suppression for the direct imaging and characterization of exoplanets in reflected light. Thus, a suite of wavefront…
The advent of extremely large telescopes will bring unprecedented light-collecting power and spatial resolution, but it will also lead to a significant increase in the size and complexity of focal-plane instruments. The use of freeform…
Closed-loop adaptive optics systems which use minimum mean square error wavefront reconstruction require the computation of pseudo open loop wavefront slopes. These techniques incorporate a knowledge of atmospheric statistics which must…
In order to increase the corrected field of view of an adaptive optics (AO) system, several deformable mirrors (DM) have to be placed in the conjugate planes of the dominant turbulent layers (multi-conjugate adaptive optics, MCAO [Beckers…
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…
Several telescopes include large Deformable Mirrors (DM) located directly inside the telescope. These adaptive telescopes trigger new constraints for the calibration of the Adaptive Optics (AO) systems as they usually offer no access to an…
The MMT Adaptive Optics exoPlanet Characterization System (MAPS) is a comprehensive update to the first generation MMT adaptive optics system (MMTAO), designed to produce a facility class suite of instruments whose purpose is to image…
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…
I argue that there is a crisis in optical Astronomy due to a paucity of telescopes and thus the need for a paradigm shift in telescope technology. Large increases in collecting areas and observing time/astronomer are only possible if we…
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), the largest single dish radio telescope in the world, has implemented an innovative technology for its huge reflector, which changes the shape of the primary reflector from…
This paper presents the first-principle design approach for X-ray active optics, using the simulation-modulation cycle in place of the measurement-modulation feedback loops used in traditional active optics. Hence, the new active optics…
We devise a laser-controlled adaptive optical element which operates intracavity under high intensity radiation. This element substitutes a conventional mechanically deformable mirror and is free of critical heat-sensitive components and…
Recent work by Oberti et al, (Astron. Astrophys., 667, 48, 2022) argued and made a compelling case that classical astronomical adaptive optics (AO) tomography performance can be further enhanced by carefully designing and optically…
We discuss a new technology that promises large inexpensive mirrors. We argue that it should be possible to tilt a rotating viscous liquid by perhaps as much as a few tens of degrees. The tilted liquid parabolic surface is used as the…
Adaptive optics (AO) is a powerful image correction technique with proven benefits for many life-science microscopy methods. However, the complexity of adding a reflective wavefront modulator and a wavefront sensor into already complicated…
Recently, new artificial material has been proposed to control an electromagnetic wave-metasurface, a two-dimensional metamaterial. Compared with a three-dimensional bulky metamaterial, this artificial plane material with sub-wavelength…