Related papers: Active Optics in Modern, Large Optical Telescopes
It has been recently demonstrated that integrated optics could enhance accuracy, stability, and ease of use of stellar interferometry techniques. The subject of this thesis is the study of an optical component based on singlemode waveguides…
Microscopy and optical imaging are drastically limited by the inhomogeneities encountered by the light while propagating from the object of interest to the detection system. In this context, adaptive optics and wavefront manipulation are…
Real-time seeing and outer scale estimation at the location of the focus of a telescope is fundamental for the adaptive optics systems dimensioning and performance prediction, as well as for the operational aspects of instruments. This…
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…
We have created a new autonomous laser-guide-star adaptive-optics (AO) instrument on the 60-inch (1.5-m) telescope at Palomar Observatory called Robo-AO. The instrument enables diffraction-limited resolution observing in the visible and…
Research activities during the last decade have shown the strong potential of photonic devices to greatly simplify ground based and space borne astronomical instruments and to improve their performance. We focus specifically on the…
Metasurfaces are subwavelength structured thin films consisting of arrays of units that allow the controls of polarization, phase and amplitude of light over a subwavelength thickness. The recent developments in topological photonics have…
Optical multiplexing is a key technique that enhances the capacity of optical systems by independently modulating various optical parameters to carry distinct information. Among these parameters, wavelength, polarization, and angle are the…
In recent years, a great deal of emphasis has been placed on achieving the diffraction limit with large aperture telescopes. For a well matched focal-plane instrument, the diffraction limit provides the highest possible angular resolution…
Variable curvature mirrors of large amplitude are designed by using finite element analysis. The specific case studied reaches at least a 800 {\mu}m sag with an optical quality better than {\lambda}/5 over a 120 mm clear aperture. We…
Lens design uses a calculation of the lens' surfaces that permit to obtain an image from a given object. A set of general rules and laws permits to calculate the essential points of the optical system such as distances, thickness, pupils,…
Focused laser beams allow controlling mechanical motion of objects and can serve as a tool for assembling complex micro and nano structures in space. While in a vast majority of cases small particles experience attractive gradient forces…
Fundamental optics such as lenses and prisms work by applying phase shifts to incoming light via the refractive index. In these macroscopic devices, many particles each contribute a miniscule phase shift, working together to impose a total…
The implementation of efficient free-space channels is fundamental for both classical and quantum Free-Space Optical (FSO) communication. This can be challenging for fibre-coupled receivers, due to the time variant inhomogeneity of the…
Adaptive Optics (AO) is a new and rapidly expanding field of instrumentation, yet astronomers, vision scientists, and general AO practitioners are largely unfamiliar with the root technologies crucial to AO systems. The AO Summer School…
Optical stellar interferometers have demonstrated milli-arcsecond resolution with few apertures spaced hundreds of meters apart. To obtain rich direct images, many apertures will be needed, for a better sampling of the incoming wavefront.…
The paper describes the MAGIC multi-mode focal reducer (Monitoring of Active Galaxies by Investigation of their Cores), commissioned on the 1-m Zeiss-1000 telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences…
The optical matrix formalism is applied to find parameters such as focal distance, back and front focal points, principal planes, and the equation relating object and image distances for a thick spherical lens immerse in air. Then, the…
To explore capabilities of moderate-size optical telescopes in surveys, the set of 9 new wide-field designs having apertures up to 1 m is considered. All but one systems have angular field of view in a range 3.5-10 degrees and flat focal…
A new optical design concept of telescopes to provide an aberration-free, wide field, unvignetted flat focal plane is described. The system employs three aspheric mirrors to remove aberrations, and provides a semi-circular field of view…