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The idea of using stellar photometry for atmospheric monitoring for optical experiments in high-energy astrophysics is seemingly straightforward, but reaching high precision of the order of 0.01 in the determination of the vertical aerosol…
We present the results of a study along with a first prototype of a high precision system (? 1 arcsec) for pointing and tracking light (near-infrared) telescopes on board stratospheric balloons. Such a system is essentially composed by a…
Recent advances in telescope design, photodetector efficiency, and high-speed electronic data recording and synchronization have created the observational capability to achieve unprecedented angular resolution for several thousand bright…
We present the technology and control methods developed for the pointing system of the SPIDER experiment. SPIDER is a balloon-borne polarimeter designed to detect the imprint of primordial gravitational waves in the polarization of the…
The development of detectors with a high time resolution has been pivotal to our comprehension of neutron stars and the accurate measurement of their properties. While high-time resolution astronomy has become a standard in the radio and…
The wavelength and state of polarization (SOP) are fundamental properties of an optical field which are essential for applications in optical communications, imaging and other fields. However, it is challenging for existing spectrometers…
At a fraction the total cost of an equivalent orbital mission, scientific balloon-borne platforms, operating above 99.7% of the Earth's atmosphere, offer attractive, competitive, and effective observational capabilities -- namely space-like…
Optical intensity interferometry, developed in the 1950s, is a simple and inexpensive method for achieving angular resolutions on microarcsecond scales. Its low sensitivity has limited intensity interferometric observations to bright stars…
The state of polarization (SOP) is an inherent property of the vectorial nature of light and a crucial parameter in a wide range of remote sensing applications. Nevertheless, the SOP is rather cumbersome to probe experimentally, as…
High-angular-resolution imaging is crucial for many applications in modern astronomy and astrophysics. The fundamental diffraction limit constrains the resolving power of both ground-based and spaceborne telescopes. The recent idea of a…
A backside-illuminated (BSI) near-infrared enhanced silicon single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) for time-of-flight (ToF) light detection and ranging applications is presented. The detector contains a 2 $\mu$m wide multiplication region…
We present a method for attaining sub-arcsecond pointing stability during sub- orbital balloon flights, as designed for in the High Altitude Lensing Observatory (HALO) concept. The pointing method presented here has the potential to perform…
We measured images and Fourier images of fluorescence for 0.11- and 0.22-$\mu$m-diameter dye-doped polystyrene micro-sphere beads on a solid immersion lens, and experimentally verified strongly-angle-dependent fluorescence intensities due…
This paper is the third part of a trilogy dealing with the principles, performance and limitations of what I named "Telescope-Interferometers" (TIs). The basic idea consists in transforming one telescope into a Wavefront Error (WFE) sensing…
Intensity interferometry is a reemerging astronomical technique for performing high angular resolution studies at visible wavelengths, benefiting immensely from the recent improvements in (single) photon detection instrumentation. We…
Silicon photonics in conjunction with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication has greatly enhanced the development of integrated optical phased arrays. This facilitates a dynamic control of light in a compact form factor…
We report on a study of the long-term stability and absolute accuracy of an atom interferometer gyroscope. This study included the implementation of an electro-optical technique to reverse the vector area of the interferometer for reduced…
Photoelectron momentum microscopy is an emerging powerful method for angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES), especially in combination with imaging spin filters. These instruments record kx-ky images, typically exceeding a full…
We present the results of integration and characterization of the SPIDER instrument after the 2013 pre-flight campaign. SPIDER is a balloon-borne polarimeter designed to probe the primordial gravitational wave signal in the degree-scale…
The present `state of the art' and the path to future progress in high spatial resolution imaging interferometry is reviewed. The review begins with a treatment of the fundamentals of stellar optical interferometry, the origin, properties,…