Related papers: Rayleigh Laser Guide Star Systems: Application to …

A method for producing a laser guide star wavefront sensor for adaptive optics with reduced focal anisoplanatism is presented. A theoretical analysis and numerical simulations have been carried out and the results are presented. The…

In the context of Radioastronomic applications where the Analog Radio-over-Fiber technology is used for the antenna downlink, detrimental nonlinearity effects arise because of the interference between the forward signal generated by the…

We review the science case for the Laser Guide Star system being built for the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma. When used in combination with the NAOMI Adaptive Optics system and the OASIS visible-wavelength Integral Field…

Full sky coverage Adaptive Optics on Extremely Large Telescopes requires the adoption of several Laser Guide Stars as references.With such large apertures, the apparent elongation of the beacons is absolutely significant.With few…

The Laser Guide Star Facility for the VLT will be commissioned during 2003. This, of course, can only be the first step towards enhancing the scientific output of the VLT through adaptive optics. So in this contribution we propose the…

The optimal performance of adaptive optics systems can only be maintained if the wavefront reference is bright and compact. Experience has shown that both of these important criteria are remarkably difficult to achieve with laser guide…

The performance of adaptive optics systems employing sodium laser guide stars can be improved by continuously monitoring the vertical density structure of mesospheric sodium along the line of sight. We demonstrate that sodium density…

External optical feedback via Rayleigh scattering from an integrated microresonator or an optical fiber has been demonstrated to significantly narrow the intrinsic linewidth of semiconductor lasers. Wavelength matching between the lasing…

Sodium Laser Guide Stars (LGSs) are elongated sources due to the thickness and the finite distance of the sodium layer. The fluctuations of the sodium layer altitude and atom density profile induce errors on centroid measurements of…

We have developed and tested a novel method, based on LIDAR, of measuring the height and profile of the mesospheric sodium layer using a continuous wave laser. It is more efficient than classical LIDAR as the laser is on for 50% of the…

Laser Light Scattering (LLS) method, combined with a long-distance microscope was utilized to detect micrometer-sized particles on a smooth substrate. LLS was capable to detect individual particle release, shrink, or fragmentation during…

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…

The importance of laser guide stars to the practical usefulness of adaptive optics cannot be understated, and yet there are very few working systems. This contribution discusses the current status of the ALFA laser guide star, with regard…

Astronomers working with faint targets will benefit greatly from improved image quality on current and planned ground-based telescopes. At present, most adaptive optic systems are targeted at the highest resolution with bright guide stars.…

The distant projection of high peak and average power laser beams in the atmosphere is a longstanding goal with a wide range of applications. Our early proof-of-principle experiments [Phys. Rev. X 4, 011027 (2014)] presented one solution to…

The use of artificial Laser Guide Stars (LGS) is planned for the new generation of giant segmented mirror telescopes, to extend the sky coverage of their adaptive optics systems. The LGS, being a 3D object at a finite distance will have a…

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…

We describe results from the first astronomical adaptive optics system to use multiple laser guide stars, located at the 6.5-m MMT telescope in Arizona. Its initial operational mode, ground-layer adaptive optics (GLAO), provides uniform…

A spectrometer for the measurement of spontaneous Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering line profiles at ultraviolet wavelengths from gas phase molecules has been developed, employing a high-power frequency-stabilized UV laser with narrow bandwidth…

Following the selection of The Gravitational Universe by ESA, and the successful flight of LISA Pathfinder, the LISA Consortium now proposes a 4 year mission in response to ESA's call for missions for L3. The observatory will be based on…