相关论文: A Shiny New Method for SETI: Specular Reflections …
Observing habitable exoplanets that may resemble Earth is a key priority in astronomy that is dependent on not only detecting such worlds, but also ascertaining that apparent signatures of habitability are not due to other sources. Space…
The $PT$-symmetric optical grating with index profile $e^{i\beta z}$ has been shown to have the interesting property of being essentially invisible for light incident from one side, while possessing greatly enhanced reflection at a…
Diffraction is important when nearby substellar objects gravitationally lens distant stars. If the wavelength of the observation is comparable to the Schwarzschild radius of lensing object, diffraction leaves an observable imprint on the…
The extreme contrast ratios between stars and their planets at optical wavelengths make it challenging to isolate the light reflected by exoplanet atmospheres. Yet, these reflective properties reveal key processes occurring in the…
A number of design options for image slicers for NGST and Gemini are being investigated. These image slicers are all of the focussing type and both refractive and reflective solutions are being explored. One such device, an image slicer…
To date, nearly two hundred planet-forming disks have been imaged with high resolution. Our propensity to study bright and extended objects is however biasing our view of the disk demography. In this work, we contribute to alleviate this…
Context. To better understand the observed brightness of low Earth orbit satellites, we must characterize their reflectivity, which in turn depends importantly on their bus designs. The reflectivity of a body can be described by Lambert's…
We investigate the utility of a constellation of four satellites in heliocentric orbit, equipped with accurate means to measure intersatellite ranges, round-trip times and phases of signals coherently retransmitted between members of the…
Interplanetary links (IPL) serve as crucial enablers for space exploration, facilitating secure and adaptable space missions. An integrated IPL with inter-satellite communication (IP-ISL) establishes a unified deep space network, expanding…
The gravitational microlensing as a unique astrophysical tool can be used for studying the atmosphere of stars thousands of parsec far from us. This capability results from the bending of light rays in the gravitational field of a lens…
We calculate the magnification light curves due to stellar microlensing of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows. A GRB source appears on the sky as a thin ring which expands faster than the speed of light and is maximally magnified as it…
Light Echoes (LEs) are the reflections of astrophysical transients off of interstellar dust. They are fascinating astronomical phenomena that enable studies of the scattering dust as well as of the original transients. LEs, however, are…
We present total and specular reflectance measurements of various materials that are commonly (and uncommonly) used to provide baffling and/or to minimize the effect of stray light in optical systems. More specifically, we investigate the…
Resonant dielectric planar structures can interact selectively with light of particular helicity thus providing an attractive platform for chiral flat optics. The absence of mirror-symmetry planes defines geometric chirality, and it remains…
We present a means of characterizing and removing internal reflections between the CCD and other optical surfaces in an astronomical camera. The stellar reflections appear as out-of-focus images and are not necessarily axisymmetric about…
Inverse Compton scattering by relativistic electrons produces a major component of the diffuse emission from the Galaxy. The photon fields involved are the cosmic microwave background and the interstellar radiation field from stars and…
Galaxy-cluster gravitational lenses can magnify background galaxies by a total factor of up to ~50. Here we report an image of an individual star at redshift z=1.49 (dubbed "MACS J1149 Lensed Star 1 (LS1)") magnified by >2000. A separate…
Interstellar scattering is known to broaden distant objects spatially and temporally. The latter aspect is difficult to analyse, unless the signals carry their own time stamps. Pulsars are so kind to do us this favour. Typically the…
Motivated by a recent experiment [J. Eschner {\it et al.}, Nature {\bf 413}, 495 (2001)], we now present a theoretical study on the fluorescence of an atom in front of a mirror. On the assumption that the presence of the distant mirror and…
Microlensings events are predicted for the light coming from cosmological sources. In addition to the microlensing due to gravitation lensing, microlensing produced also by refraction of light due to either ionized, or not, gas clouds can…