Related papers: The ALFA Laser and Analysis Tools
Many adaptive optics systems operate by measuring the distortion of the wavefront in one wavelength range and performing the scientific observations in a second, different wavelength range. One common technique is to measure wavefront…
Adaptive Optics (AO) is an innovative technique that substantially improves the optical performance of ground-based telescopes. The SOAR Adaptive Module (SAM) is a laser-assisted AO instrument, designed to compensate ground-layer…
Laser-plasma accelerators offer a compact means of producing high-energy electron beams, but their performance is fundamentally limited by dephasing between the accelerated electrons and the plasma wave. To overcome this limitation, we…
In this review we discuss the progress of the past decade in testing for a possible temporal variation of the fine structure constant $\alpha$. Advances in atomic sample preparation, laser spectroscopy and optical frequency measurements led…
The Gemini Planet Imager instrument's adaptive optics (AO) subsystem was designed specifically to facilitate high-contrast imaging. It features several new technologies, including computationally efficient wavefront reconstruction with the…
As the first generation of laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors near operation, research and development has begun on increasing the instrument's sensitivity while utilizing the existing infrastructure. In the Laser…
The tunable gamma-ray lens has turned out to be a promising alternative to the classical fixed-energy Laue-lenses discussed in the past. We describe here our development work on a miniature pedestal with one-axis tilt adjustment. We also…
It is well-known how to control the spatial output from a laser, with most solutions to date involving customised intra-cavity elements in the form of apertures, diffractive optics and free-form mirrors. These optical elements require…
Adaptive optics (AO) are reconfigurable devices that compensate for wavefront distortions or aberrations in optical systems such as microscopes, telescopes and ophthalmoscopes. Aberrations have detrimental effects that can reduce imaging…
We describe the results from a new instrument which combines Lucky Imaging and Adaptive Optics to give the first routine direct diffraction-limited imaging in the visible on a 5m telescope. With fast image selection behind the Palomar AO…
(ABRIDGED) We describe the first results of the ALHAMBRA survey which provides cosmic tomography of the evolution of the contents of the Universe over most of Cosmic history. Our approach employs 20 contiguous, equal-width, medium-band…
Using five independent analytic and Monte Carlo simulation codes, we have studied the performance of wide field ground layer adaptive optics (GLAO), which can use a single, relatively low order deformable mirror to correct the wavefront…
Context. Adaptive optics (AO) is now a tool commonly deployed in astronomy. The real time correction of the atmospheric turbulence that AO enables allows telescopes to perform close to the diffraction limit at the core of their point spread…
Over the past fifty years, wavefront sensing technology has continuously evolved from basic techniques to high-precision systems, serving as a core methodology in adaptive optics (AO). Beyond traditional wavefront retrieval methods based on…
I present the Automated Line Fitting Algorithm, ALFA, a new code which can fit emission line spectra of arbitrary wavelength coverage and resolution, fully automatically. In contrast to traditional emission line fitting methods which…
In a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), producing a high-resolution image generally requires an electron beam focused to the smallest point possible. However, the magnetic lenses used to focus the beam are unavoidably…
To meet the scientific goals of the Thirty Meter Telescope Project, full diffraction-limited performance is required from the outset and hence the entire observatory is being designed, as a system, to achieve this. The preliminary design…
Bright single and binary stars were observed at the 4.1-m telescope with a fast electron-multiplication camera in the regime of partial turbulence correction by the visible-light adaptive optics system. We compare the angular resolution…
The large surveys and sensitive instruments of modern astronomy are turning ever more examples of variable objects, many of which are extending the parameter space to testing theories of stellar evolution and accretion. Future projects such…
We present a novel method for aligning a laser ionized plasma source to a pair of ultra-relativistic electron beams that comprise a plasma wakefield accelerator (PWFA). We achieve alignment by analyzing the plasma afterglow light observed…