Related papers: GRAVITY: The AO-Assisted, Two-Object Beam-Combiner…

Asgard/NOTT (previously Hi-5) is a European Research Council (ERC)-funded project hosted at KU Leuven and a new visitor instrument for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). Its primary goal is to image the snow line region around…

One important frontier for astronomical adaptive optics (AO) involves methods such as Multi-Object AO and Multi-Conjugate AO that have the potential to give a significantly larger field of view than conventional AO techniques. A second key…

We propose a new method for measurements of gravitational acceleration using a quantum optomechanical system. As a proof-of-concept, we investigate the fundamental sensitivity for a cavity optomechanical system for gravitational…

Context: MATISSE, the mid-infrared spectro-imaging instrument of VLTI, was designed to deliver its advertised performance when paired with an external second generation fringe tracker. Science observation started in 2019, demonstrating…

The goal of this work is to characterize the polarization effects of the VLTI and GRAVITY. This is needed to calibrate polarimetric observations with GRAVITY for instrumental effects and to understand the systematic error introduced to the…

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…

We demonstrate the potential of new adaptive optical technology to expand the detection horizon of gravitational-wave observatories. Achieving greater quantum-noise-limited sensitivity to spacetime strain hinges on achieving higher…

Beginning in Fall 2018, the VERITAS high energy gamma-ray observatory (Amado, AZ) was upgraded to enable Stellar Intensity Interferometry (SII) observations during bright moon conditions. The system potentially allows VERITAS to spatially…

MAORY is the adaptive optics module for ELT providing two gravity invariant ports with the same optical quality for two different client instruments. It enable high angular resolution observations in the near infrared over a large field of…

The 44-cm Visible Telescope (VT) aboard the Space-based Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) is a dual-band (400-650 nm and 650-1000 nm) instrument designed to detect and characterize the optical counterparts of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and other…

The Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) is a wide-field telescope project focused on detecting optical counterparts to gravitational-wave sources. GOTO uses arrays of 40 cm unit telescopes (UTs) on a shared robotic mount,…

SPIFFI is the near-infrared integral-field spectrometer for the VLT. Assisted by the SINFONI adaptive optics module, the instrument will be offered to the astronomical community in 2004. We outline the scientific rationale for infrared…

SINFONI is an adaptive optics assisted near-infrared integral field spectrometer for the ESO VLT. The Adaptive Optics Module (built by the ESO Adaptive Optics Group) is a 60-elements curvature-sensor based system, designed for operations…

The detection of astrophysical Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) has always been intertwined with the challenge of identifying the direction of the source. Accurate angular localization of better than a degree has been achieved to date only with…

Adaptive optics (AO) is a powerful tool employed across various research fields, from aerospace to microscopy. Traditionally, AO has focused on correcting optical phase aberrations, with recent advances extending to polarisation…

We use high-resolution adaptive optics (AO) imaging on the Keck II telescope to study the gravitational lens B0128+437 in unprecedented detail, allowing us to resolve individual lensed quasar components and, for the first time, detect and…

We present SPIFFI, the integral field spectrometer for the VLT. This instrument allows simultaneous observation of infrared spectra in more than 1000 image points of a two dimensional field. With its set of four gratings and a pixel scale…

Multi-conjugated adaptive optics (MCAO) yield nearly diffraction-limited images at 2$\mu$m wavelengths. Currently, GeMS/GSAOI at Gemini South is the only MCAO facility instrument at an 8m telescope. Using real data and for the first time,…

Performances of an adaptive optics (AO) system are directly linked with the quality of its alignment. During the instrument calibration, having open loop fast tools with a large capture range are necessary to quickly assess the system…

VLTi Spectro-Imager (VSI) is a proposition for a second generation VLTI instrument which is aimed at providing the ESO community with the capability of performing image synthesis at milli-arcsecond angular resolution. VSI provides the VLTI…