Related papers: High-Precision Lunar Corner-Cube Retroreflectors: …
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…
Near-diffraction limited imaging and spectroscopy in the visible on large (8-10 meter) class telescopes has proved to be beyond the capabilities of current adaptive optics technologies, even when using laser guide stars. The need for high…
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…
Crater counting on the Moon and other bodies is crucial to constrain the dynamical history of the Solar System. This has traditionally been done by visual inspection of images, thus limiting the scope, efficiency, and/or accuracy of…
Searches for extrasolar planets using the periodic Doppler shift of stellar spectral lines have recently achieved a precision of 60 cm/s (ref 1), which is sufficient to find a 5-Earth-mass planet in a Mercury-like orbit around a Sun-like…
The direct detection and characterization of exoplanets will be a major scientific driver over the next decade, involving the development of very large telescopes and requires high-contrast imaging close to the optical axis. Some complex…
We report on a new x-ray imaging method, which combines the high spatial resolution of coherent diffraction imaging with the ability of dark field microscopy to map grains within thick polycrystalline specimens. An x-ray objective serves to…
Broadband refractive optics realized from high index materials provide compelling design solutions for the next generation of observatories for the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), and for sub-millimeter astronomy. In this paper, work is…
Cluster-scale strong lensing is a powerful tool for exploring the properties of dark matter and constraining cosmological models. However, due to the complex parameter space, pixelized strong lens modeling in galaxy clusters is…
We describe a micro-fabrication method to create concave features with ultra-low surface roughness in silica, either on the end facets of optical fibers or on flat substrates. The machining uses a single focused CO2 laser pulse. Parameters…
Reverberation chambers (RCs) were recently reported as a low-cost alternative to anechoic chambers (ACs) to perform radar cross-section (RCS) pattern measurements. The method consists of using transmitting and receiving antennas pointing…
The technique of High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) for atmospheric monitoring allows the determination of the aerosol to molecular ratio and can be used in UHECR Observatories using air fluorescence telescopes. By this technique a more…
Context. In the context of direct imaging of exoplanets, coronagraphs are commonly proposed to reach the required very high contrast levels. However, wavefront aberrations induce speckles in their focal plane and limit their performance.…
For high (angular) resolution electron backscatter diffraction (HR-EBSD), the selection of a reference diffraction pattern (EBSP0) significantly affects the precision of the calculated strain and rotation maps. This effect was demonstrated…
High-precision laser interferometric instruments require optical surfaces with a close to perfect contour, as well as low scattering and absorption. Especially point absorbers are problematic because they heat up at high optical intensities…
Quasars have been proposed as a new class of standard candles analogous to Supernovae, as their large redshift range and high luminosities make them excellent candidates. Reverberation mapping (RM) method enables to estimate the distance to…
In coherent X-ray diffraction microscopy the diffraction pattern generated by a sample illuminated with coherent x-rays is recorded, and a computer algorithm recovers the unmeasured phases to synthesize an image. By avoiding the use of a…
Current and future optical technologies will aid exploration of the Moon and Mars while advancing fundamental physics research in the solar system. Technologies and possible improvements in the laser-enabled tests of various physical…
The phase-code mode-locked (PCML) laser provides a configurable frequency comb light source for circular-ranging optical coherence tomography systems (CR-OCT). However, prior implementations of PCML suffered from high relative intensity…
Precise sensor calibration is critical for autonomous vehicles as a prerequisite for perception algorithms to function properly. Rotation error of one degree can translate to position error of meters in target object detection at large…