Related papers: Atmospheric Refraction Path Integrals in Ground-Ba…
Grazing incidence interferometry has been applied to rough planar and cylindrical surfaces. As suitable beam splitters diffractive optical phase elements are quite common because these allow for the same test sensitivity for all surface…
We propose a method based on sinc series approximations for computing the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld and Fresnel diffraction integrals of optics. The diffraction integrals are given in terms of a convolution, and our proposed numerical approach is…
For a ground-based radio interferometer observing at low frequencies, the ionosphere causes propagation delays and refraction of cosmic radio waves which result in phase errors in the received signal. These phase errors can be corrected…
Ground-based thermal infrared observations face substantial challenges in correcting the predominant background emitted as thermal radiation from the atmosphere and the telescope itself. With the upcoming 40\,m class ELTs, unprecedented…
Infrared space interferometers can surpass the spatial resolution limitations of single-dish space telescopes. However, stellar interferometers from space have not been realized because of technical difficulties. Two beams coming from…
A light beam changes direction as it enters a liquid at an angle from another medium, such as air. Should the liquid contain molecules that lack mirror symmetry, then it has been predicted by Fresnel that the light beam will not only change…
We theoretically and computationally investigate the role that the spatial spread of atoms plays in the transmission and reflection of weak light from atom arrays. In particular, we investigate whether coherent wave functions for the atoms'…
We present an analysis on the detection viability of refraction effects in Kepler's exoplanet atmospheres using binning techniques for their light curves in order to compare against simulated refraction effects. We split the Kepler…
Space borne nulling interferometry in the mid-infrared waveband is one of the most promising techniques for characterizing the atmospheres of extra-solar planets orbiting in the habitable zone of their parent star, and possibly discovering…
A unique perspective approach based on an analogy method is presented to solve the ray equation in a model of a continuous inhomogeneous medium, which has a spherically symmetric distribution. Basically, in the standard undergraduate…
Telescope and detector developments continuously enable deeper and more detailed studies of astronomical objects. Larger collecting areas, improvement in dispersion and detector techniques, and higher sensitivities allow detection of more…
New ray-optical elements allow generalized refraction of light rays, but geometry imposes limitations on possible mappings between the positions of an object and its geometric image. Here I study the case of an infinite, planar,…
One of the most important techniques for astrophysics with adaptive optics is the ability to do spectroscopy at diffraction limited scales. The extreme difficulty of positioning a faint target accurately on a very narrow slit can be avoided…
Smoothing over structures in general relativity leads to a renormalisation of the background, and potentially many other effects which are poorly understood. Observables such as the distance-redshift relation when averaged on the sky do not…
The reflector used by an imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope (IACT) consists of a tessellated array of mirrors mounted on a large frame. This arrangement allows for a very large reflecting surface with sufficient optical quality for the…
The far-field patterns of atoms diffracted from a classical light field, or from a quantum one in a photon-number state are identical. On the other hand, diffraction from a field in a coherent state, which shares many properties with…
Newly recognized effects of refractive scattering in the ionized interstellar medium have broad implications for very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) at extreme angular resolutions. Building upon work by Blandford & Narayan (1985), we…
Transforming the instrumental photometry of ground-based telescopes into a calibrated physical flux in a well-defined passband is a major challenge in astronomy. Along with the intrinsic instrumental difference between telescopes sharing…
A model that combines celestial geometry and atmospheric physics is used to calculate the dimming of artificial satellites as they enter and exit the Earth's shadow. Refraction of sunlight by the terrestrial atmosphere can illuminate a…
This paper addresses the problem of reconstructing the surface shape of transparent objects. The difficulty of this problem originates from the viewpoint dependent appearance of a transparent object, which quickly makes reconstruction…