Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

First On-Sky Demonstration of a Scintillation Correction technique using Tomographic Wavefront Sensing (2023)
Journal Article
Hartley, K. E., Farley, O. J., Townson, M. J., Osborn, J., & Wilson, R. (2023). First On-Sky Demonstration of a Scintillation Correction technique using Tomographic Wavefront Sensing. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 520(3), 4134-4146. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad420

Scintillation noise significantly limits high precision ground-based photometry of bright stars. In this paper we present the first ever on-sky demonstration of scintillation correction. The technique uses tomographic wavefront sensing to estimate th... Read More about First On-Sky Demonstration of a Scintillation Correction technique using Tomographic Wavefront Sensing.

SHIMM: a versatile seeing monitor for astronomy (2023)
Journal Article
Perera, S., Wilson, R. W., Butterley, T., Osborn, J., Farley, O. J., & Laidlaw, D. J. (2023). SHIMM: a versatile seeing monitor for astronomy. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 520(4), 5475-5486. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad339

Characterization of atmospheric optical turbulence is crucial for the design and operation of modern ground-based optical telescopes. In particular, the effective application of adaptive optics correction on large and extremely large telescopes relie... Read More about SHIMM: a versatile seeing monitor for astronomy.

Demonstrating 24-hour continuous vertical monitoring of atmospheric optical turbulence (2023)
Journal Article
Griffiths, R., Osborn, J., Farley, O., Butterley, T., Townson, M. J., & Wilson, R. (2023). Demonstrating 24-hour continuous vertical monitoring of atmospheric optical turbulence. Optics Express, 31(4), 6730-6740. https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.479544

We report what is believed to be the first example of fully continuous, 24-hour vertical monitoring of atmospheric optical turbulence. This is achieved using a novel instrument, the 24-hour Shack-Hartmann Image Motion Monitor (24hSHIMM). Optical turb... Read More about Demonstrating 24-hour continuous vertical monitoring of atmospheric optical turbulence.

Scratching beyond the surface — minimal actin assemblies as tools to elucidate mechanical reinforcement and shape change (2022)
Journal Article
Aufderhorst-Roberts, A., & Staykova, M. (2022). Scratching beyond the surface — minimal actin assemblies as tools to elucidate mechanical reinforcement and shape change. Emerging Topics in Life Sciences, 6(6), 583-592. https://doi.org/10.1042/etls20220052

The interaction between the actin cytoskeleton and the plasma membrane in eukaryotic cells is integral to a large number of functions such as shape change, mechanical reinforcement and contraction. These phenomena are driven by the architectural regu... Read More about Scratching beyond the surface — minimal actin assemblies as tools to elucidate mechanical reinforcement and shape change.

Encapsulated bacteria deform lipid vesicles into flagellated swimmers (2022)
Journal Article
Le Nagard, L., Brown, A. T., Dawson, A., Martinez, V. A., Poon, W. C., & Staykova, M. (2022). Encapsulated bacteria deform lipid vesicles into flagellated swimmers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(34), https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2206096119

We study a synthetic system of motile Escherichia coli bacteria encapsulated inside giant lipid vesicles. Forces exerted by the bacteria on the inner side of the membrane are sufficient to extrude membrane tubes filled with one or several bacteria. W... Read More about Encapsulated bacteria deform lipid vesicles into flagellated swimmers.

FAST: Fourier domain adaptive optics simulation tool for bidirectional ground-space optical links through atmospheric turbulence (2022)
Journal Article
Farley, O., Townson, M., & Osborn, J. (2022). FAST: Fourier domain adaptive optics simulation tool for bidirectional ground-space optical links through atmospheric turbulence. Optics Express, 30(13), 23050-23064. https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.458659

Free space optical links between the ground and space may be severely degraded by atmospheric turbulence. Adaptive Optics, a technique allowing partial correction of this degradation, is beginning to see use in the field with the potential to achieve... Read More about FAST: Fourier domain adaptive optics simulation tool for bidirectional ground-space optical links through atmospheric turbulence.

Comparative Study of Lipid- and Polymer-Supported Membranes Obtained by Vesicle Fusion (2022)
Journal Article
Goodband, R. J., Bain, C. D., & Staykova, M. (2022). Comparative Study of Lipid- and Polymer-Supported Membranes Obtained by Vesicle Fusion. Langmuir, 38(18), 5674-5681. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.2c00266

We compare the fusion of giant lipid and block-copolymer vesicles on glass and poly(dimethylsiloxane) substrates. Both types of vesicles are similar in their ability to fuse to hydrophilic substrates and form patches with distinct heart or circular s... Read More about Comparative Study of Lipid- and Polymer-Supported Membranes Obtained by Vesicle Fusion.

Scintillation-limited photometry with the 20-cm NGTS telescopes at Paranal Observatory (2021)
Journal Article
O’Brien, S. M., Bayliss, D., Osborn, J., Bryant, E. M., McCormac, J., Wheatley, P. J., …West, R. G. (2022). Scintillation-limited photometry with the 20-cm NGTS telescopes at Paranal Observatory. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 509(4), 6111-6118. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab3399

Ground-based photometry of bright stars is expected to be limited by atmospheric scintillation, although in practice observations are often limited by other sources of systematic noise. We analyse 122 nights of bright star (Gmag ≲ 11.5) photometry us... Read More about Scintillation-limited photometry with the 20-cm NGTS telescopes at Paranal Observatory.

Dynamic Mechanochemical feedback between curved membranes and BAR protein self-organization (2021)
Journal Article
Roux, A. L., Tozzi, C., Walani, N., Quiroga, X., Zalvidea, D., Trepat, X., …Roca-Cusachs, P. (2021). Dynamic Mechanochemical feedback between curved membranes and BAR protein self-organization. Nature Communications, 12, Article 6550. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26591-3

In many physiological situations, BAR proteins reshape membranes with pre-existing curvature (templates), contributing to essential cellular processes. However, the mechanism and the biological implications of this reshaping process remain unclear. H... Read More about Dynamic Mechanochemical feedback between curved membranes and BAR protein self-organization.

Astrosat: forecasting satellite transits for optical astronomical observations (2021)
Journal Article
Osborn, J., Blacketer, L., Townson, M. J., & Farley, O. J. (2022). Astrosat: forecasting satellite transits for optical astronomical observations. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 509(2), 1848-1852. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab3003

The impact of large-scale constellations of satellites, is a concern for ground-based astronomers. In recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of satellites in low-Earth orbit and this trend is set to continue. The large numbe... Read More about Astrosat: forecasting satellite transits for optical astronomical observations.

Real-time tracking of ionic nano-domains under shear flow (2021)
Journal Article
Cafolla, C., & Voïtchovsky, K. (2021). Real-time tracking of ionic nano-domains under shear flow. Scientific Reports, 11, Article 19540. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-98137-y

The behaviour of ions at solid–liquid interfaces underpins countless phenomena, from the conduction of nervous impulses to charge transfer in solar cells. In most cases, ions do not operate as isolated entities, but in conjunction with neighbouring i... Read More about Real-time tracking of ionic nano-domains under shear flow.

DynDen: Assessing convergence of molecular dynamics simulations of interfaces (2021)
Journal Article
Degiacomi, M. T., Tian, S., Greenwell, H. C., & Erastova, V. (2021). DynDen: Assessing convergence of molecular dynamics simulations of interfaces. Computer Physics Communications, 269, Article 108126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2021.108126

Molecular dynamics is a simulation technique used to predict the physical properties of systems based on their chemical structure and evolution of their atomic constituents. For these predictions to be reliable, it is critical that the simulation has... Read More about DynDen: Assessing convergence of molecular dynamics simulations of interfaces.

HiPERCAM: a quintuple-beam, high-speed optical imager on the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (2021)
Journal Article
Dhillon, V., Bezawada, N., Black, M., Dixon, S., Gamble, T., Gao, X., …García-Alvarez, D. (2021). HiPERCAM: a quintuple-beam, high-speed optical imager on the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 507(1), 350-366. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab2130

HiPERCAM is a portable, quintuple-beam optical imager that saw first light on the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) in 2018. The instrument uses re-imaging optics and four dichroic beamsplitters to record usgsrsiszs (320–1060 nm) images simultane... Read More about HiPERCAM: a quintuple-beam, high-speed optical imager on the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias.

A method for automatic shale porosity quantification using an Edge-Threshold Automatic Processing (ETAP) technique (2021)
Journal Article
Tian, S., Bowen, L., Liu, B., Zeng, F., Xue, H., Erastova, V., …Liu, J. (2021). A method for automatic shale porosity quantification using an Edge-Threshold Automatic Processing (ETAP) technique. Fuel, 304, Article 121319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2021.121319

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is one of the most prevalent methods used to image and quantify the pore size distribution of shale rock, critical in understanding unconventional petroleum systems and production. Generally, digital greyscale SEM i... Read More about A method for automatic shale porosity quantification using an Edge-Threshold Automatic Processing (ETAP) technique.

First stellar photons for an integrated optics discrete beam combiner at the William Herschel Telescope (2021)
Journal Article
Nayak, A. S., Labadie, L., Sharma, T. K., Piacentini, S., Corrielli, G., Osellame, R., …Roth, M. M. (2021). First stellar photons for an integrated optics discrete beam combiner at the William Herschel Telescope. Applied Optics, 60(19), D129-D142. https://doi.org/10.1364/ao.423881

We present the first on-sky results of a four-telescope integrated optics discrete beam combiner (DBC) tested at the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope. The device consists of a four-input pupil remapper followed by a DBC and a 23-output reformatter. T... Read More about First stellar photons for an integrated optics discrete beam combiner at the William Herschel Telescope.

ELT-scale elongated LGS wavefront sensing: on-sky results (2021)
Journal Article
Bardou, L., Gendron, E., Rousset, G., Gratadour, D., Basden, A., Bonaccini Calia, D., …Vidal, F. (2021). ELT-scale elongated LGS wavefront sensing: on-sky results. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 649, Article A158. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202038330

Context. Laser guide stars (LGS) allow adaptive optics (AO) systems to reach greater sky coverage, especially for AO systems correcting the atmospheric turbulence on large fields of view. However LGS suffer from limitations, among which is their appa... Read More about ELT-scale elongated LGS wavefront sensing: on-sky results.

Adaptive Optics pre-compensated laser uplink to LEO and GEO (2021)
Journal Article
Osborn, J., Townson, M., Farley, O., Reeves, A., & Mata Calvo, R. (2021). Adaptive Optics pre-compensated laser uplink to LEO and GEO. Optics Express, 29(4), 6113-6132. https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.413013

We present the results from a Monte Carlo computer simulation of adaptive optics (AO) pre-compensated laser uplink propagation through the Earth’s atmospheric turbulence from the ground to orbiting satellites. The simulation includes the so-called po... Read More about Adaptive Optics pre-compensated laser uplink to LEO and GEO.

Correction of finite spatial and temporal sampling effects in stereo-SCIDAR (2020)
Conference Proceeding
Butterley, T., Sarazin, M., Le Louarn, M., Osborn, J., & Farley, O. J. (2020). Correction of finite spatial and temporal sampling effects in stereo-SCIDAR. . https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2562559

Stereo scintillation detection and ranging (S-SCIDAR) is a development of the well-established SCIDAR turbulence profiling technique. An S-SCIDAR instrument has been installed at the focus of one of the 1.8m Auxiliary Telescopes at Paranal observator... Read More about Correction of finite spatial and temporal sampling effects in stereo-SCIDAR.

Gold surface cleaning by etching polishing: Optimization of polycrystalline film topography and surface functionality for biosensing (2020)
Journal Article
Snopok, B., Laroussi, A., Cafolla, C., Voïtchovsky, K., Snopok, T., & Mirsky, V. M. (2021). Gold surface cleaning by etching polishing: Optimization of polycrystalline film topography and surface functionality for biosensing. Surfaces and Interfaces, 22, Article 100818. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfin.2020.100818

Modern bio-chemical sensors rely on functional interfacial architectures with well-defined structural nano-motifs over a physical transducer. Gold-coated interfaces are of particular interest for their desirable chemical (functionalization) and optic... Read More about Gold surface cleaning by etching polishing: Optimization of polycrystalline film topography and surface functionality for biosensing.