Related papers: Active Optics in Modern, Large Optical Telescopes
The Magellan active optics system has been operating continuously on the Baade 6.5-m since the start of science operations in February 2001. The active optical elements include the primary mirror, with 104 actuators, and the secondary…
We present a conceptual design for a fiber positioning system for multi-object high-resolution spectroscopy, designed to be compatible with the upcoming large telescopes with a wide field of view. The design incorporates multiple…
Astrophysical lensing has typically been studied in two regimes: diffractive optics and refractive optics. Diffractive optics is characterized by a perturbative expansion of the Kirchhoff-Fresnel diffraction integral, while refractive…
Optics is an important subfield of physics required for instrument design and used in a variety of other disciplines, including materials science, physics, and life sciences such as developmental biology and cell biology. It is important to…
Optical rotation, a form of optical activity, is a phenomenon employed in various metrological applications and industries including chemical, food, and pharmaceutical. In naturally-occurring, as well as structured media, the integrated…
Lenses with dynamic focal length, also called zoom functionality, enable a variety of applications related to imaging and sensing. The traditional approach of stacking refractive lenses to achieve this functionality results in an expensive,…
Adaptive optics is a technique mostly used on large telescopes. It turns out to be challenging for smaller telescopes (0.5~2m) due to the small isoplanatic angle, small subapertures and high correction speeds needed at visible wavelengths,…
Since its emergence two decades ago, astrophotonics has found broad application in scientific instruments at many institutions worldwide. The case for astrophotonics becomes more compelling as telescopes push for AO-assisted,…
Optomechanics, the study of the mechanical interaction of light with matter, has proven to be a fruitful area of research that has yielded many notable achievements, including the direct detection of gravitational waves in kilometer-scale…
Control over the amplitude, phase, and spatial distribution of visible-spectrum light underlies many technologies, but commercial solutions remain bulky, require high control power, and are often too slow. Active integrated photonics for…
The subject of optomechanics involves interactions between optical and mechanical degrees of freedom, and is currently of great interest as an enabler of fundamental investigations in quantum mechanics, as well as a platform for…
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…
This paper describes a concept for the high-accuracy absolute calibration of the instrumental polarization introduced by the primary mirror of a large-aperture telescope. This procedure requires a small aperture with polarization…
As we read this text, our eyes dynamically adjust the focal length to keep the line image in focus on the retina. Similarly, in many optics applications the focal length must be dynamically tunable. In the quest for compactness and…
Astrophotonics is a burgeoning field that lies at the interface of photonics and modern astronomical instrumentation. Here we provide a pedagogical review of basic photonic functions that enable modern instruments, and give an overview of…
The major sources causing deterioration of optical quality in extremely large optical telescopes are misadjustments of the mirrors, deformations of monolithic mirrors, and misalignments of segments in segmented mirrors. For active optics…
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…
Novel optical phenomena, including electromagnetically induced transparency, slow light, superluminal light propagation, have recently been demonstrated in diverse physical implementations. These phenomena are challenging to realize in…
Levitated optomechanics, the interaction between light and small levitated objects, is a new macroscopic quantum system that is being used as a testing ground for fundamental physics and for the development of sensors with exquisite…
The increased need in pointing performance for Earth observation and science Space missions together with the use of lighter and flexible structures directly come with the need of a robust pointing performance budget from the very beginning…