Astronomical instrumentation for ground- and space-based telescopes 2010-2015

Astronomers are building new hardware to sharpen the view of ground-based telescopes down to visible wavelengths—a feat that currently works well only in infrared. The problem is that Earth’s atmosphere blurs starlight, and existing adaptive optics systems can correct that blur only for longer, redder wavelengths. At visible wavelengths, where most of the light from stars and galaxies arrives, the atmosphere distorts images much faster and more severely. This project aims to extend adaptive optics correction into that regime, using a combination of atmospheric characterisation (via the SLODAR technique), a next-generation real-time control system developed with ESO, and in-house precision micro-optics manufacturing. If successful, the work will let ground-based telescopes see as clearly in visible light as space telescopes do, but at a fraction of the cost. That means sharper images of exoplanets, black hole environments, and distant galaxies. The photonics and lightweight ceramic optics developed here could also feed into manufacturing processes for high-precision components outside astronomy—for example, in laser communications or medical imaging. This is primarily fundamental science: the goal is to build better instruments to observe the universe. But past investments in adaptive optics have already led to technologies used in ophthalmology and laser machining.