Related papers: The ALFA Laser: Beam Relay and Control System
This paper shows a novel method to precisely measure the laser power using an optomechanical system. By measuring a mirror displacement caused by the reflection of an amplitude modulated laser beam, the number of photons in the incident…
We demonstrate a narrow-linewidth 780 nm laser system with up to 40 W power and a frequency modulation bandwidth of 230 MHz. Efficient overlap on nonlinear optical elements combines two pairs of phase-locked frequency components into a…
Most current astronomical adaptive optics (AO) systems rely on the availability of a bright star to measure the distortion of the incoming wavefront. Replacing the guide star with an artificial laser beacon alleviates this dependency on…
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 investigate the use of ultra-narrow band interference filters to enable daytime use of sodium laser guide star adaptive optics systems. Filter performance is explored using theoretical and vendor supplied filter transmission profiles, a…
The design and performance analysis of relay lenses that provide high-performance image transmission for target acquisition and tracking in military optical systems. Relay lenses are critical components for clear and lossless image…
Interferometry provides one of the possible routes to ultra-high angular resolution for X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy. Sub-micro-arc-second angular resolution, necessary to achieve objectives such as imaging the regions around the event…
This paper presents the characterization of the optical range of the ALHAMBRA photometric system, a 20 contiguous, equal-width, medium-band CCD system with wavelength coverage from 3500A to 9700A. The photometric description of the system…
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) requires that pulses from each of the 192 laser beams be positioned on target with an accuracy of 50 um rms. Beam quality must be sufficient to focus a total of 1.8 MJ of 0.351-um light into a…
Segmented primary mirrors are indispensable to master the steady increase in spatial resolution. Phasing optics systems must reduce segment misalignments to guarantee the high optical quality required for astronomical science programs.…
A rationale is presented for the use of a relatively low-altitude Rayleigh Laser Guide Star to provide partial adaptive optics correction across a large fraction of the sky on the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope. The scientific motivation…
We present detailed numerical simulations of a laser phase stabilization scheme for LISA, where both lasers emitting along one arm are locked to each other. Including the standard secondary noises and spacecraft motions that approximately…
A common issue encountered in photoemission electron sources used in electron accelerators is the transverse inhomogeneity of the laser distribution resulting from the laser-amplification process and often use of frequency up conversion in…
The LOw Frequency ARray - LOFAR - is a new radio interferometer designed with emphasis on flexible digital hardware instead of mechanical solutions. The array elements, so-called stations, are located in the Netherlands and in neighbouring…
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…
Plasma lensing provides compact focusing of electron beams, since they offer strong focusing fields (kT/m) in both planes simultaneously. This becomes particularly important for highly diverging beams with a large energy spread such as…
A concept for continuously tunable titanium-sapphire (Ti:Sa) lasers using dispersion prisms is under investigation for the ARIEL (Advanced Rare IsotopE Laboratory) laser ion source at TRIUMF (Canada's particle accelerator center).…
Sky-coverage in laser-assisted AO observations largely depends on the system's capability to guide on the faintest natural guide-stars possible. Here we give an up-to-date status of our natural guide-star processing tailored to the…
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is an airborne astronomical observatory comprised of a 2.5-meter telescope mounted in the aft section of a Boeing 747SP aircraft. During routine operations, several instruments…
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is poised to revolutionize astrophysics and cosmology in the late 2030's by unlocking unprecedented insights into the most energetic and elusive astrophysical phenomena. The mission envisages…