Related papers: The ALFA Laser and Analysis Tools
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…
HARMONI is a visible and near-infrared integral field spectrograph equipped with two complementary adaptive optics systems, fully integrated within the instrument. A Single Conjugate AO (SCAO) system offers high performance for a limited…
Many aspects of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) instrument are still unknown due to its young age. One such aspect is the true nature of the primary beam of each baseline, and how changes to the individual primary beams affect…
Traditional radio telescopes use large, steel dishes to observe radio sources. The LOFAR radio telescope is different, and uses tens of thousands of fixed, non-movable antennas instead, a novel design that promises ground-breaking research…
Adaptive optics to correct current telescopes over wide fields, or future very large telescopes over even narrow fields, will require real-time wavefront measurements made with a constellation of laser beacons. Here we report the first such…
The use of laser guide stars in astronomical adaptive optics results in elongated Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor image patterns. Image correlation techniques can be used to determine local wavefront slope by correlating each sub-aperture…
Improvements in X-ray optics critically depend on the measurement of their optical performance. The knowledge of wavefront aberrations, for example, can be used to improve the fabrication of optical elements or to design phase correctors to…
Inhomogeneities in the refractive index of a biological sample can introduce phase aberrationsin microscopy systems, severely impairing the quality of images. Adaptive optics can be employed to correct for phase aberrations and improve…
The main goals of the Absolute Luminosity For ATLAS (ALFA) detector is to provide an absolute luminosity and total cross section measurement. The measurement method used, the detector alignment and the quality of the collected data are…
We clarify how intense laser irradiation leads to an enhancement of rare processes that may occur within atoms. Non-perturbative calculation using a coherent laser beam gives an exact, time dependent formula of the enhancement factor in the…
Adaptive optics (AO) systems are crucial for high-resolution astronomical observations by compensating for atmospheric turbulence. While laser guide stars (LGS) address high-order wavefront aberrations, natural guide stars (NGS) remain…
Perfect lensing using negative refractive index materials and radiationless electromagnetic interference both provide extreme subwavelength focusing by "amplifying" evanescent wave components that are usually lost. This paper provides a…
We present an overview on the development and characterization of multiscale laser processing optics for versatile material modifications across more than six orders of magnitude. Starting with solutions for micromachining we present…
An adaptive optics system with a single deformable mirror is being implemented on the THEMIS 90cm solar telescope. This system is designed to operate in the visible and is required to be as robust as possible in order to deliver the best…
Directly imaging Earth-like exoplanets (``exoEarths'') with a coronagraph instrument on a space telescope requires a stable wavefront with optical path differences limited to tens of picometers RMS during exposure times of a few hours.…
As a new generation radio telescope, the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) is a prototype for the square kilometer array (SKA). Here we describe recently developed design constraints for the ATA digital signal processing chain as a case study for…
Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors for both solar and laser guide star adaptive optics (with elongated spots) need to observe extended objects. Correlation techniques have been successfully employed to measure the wavefront gradient in solar…
Robust laser delivery and stabilization are key components in atom-based quantum technologies, such as quantum computing. Moving these technologies towards product-like deployment requires scalable, compact, cost-effective, and upgradable…
We explore the applications of machine learning techniques in relativistic laser-plasma experiments beyond optimization purposes. We predict the beam charge of electrons produced in a laser wakefield accelerator given the laser wavefront…
The future generation of telescopes will be equipped with multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) systems in order to obtain high angular resolution over large fields of view. MCAO comes in two flavors: star- and layer-oriented. Existing…