Outputs (31)

Overview of the Fiber System for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (2024)
Journal Article
Poppett, C., Tyas, L., Aguilar, J., Bebek, C., Bramall, D., Claybaugh, T., Edelstein, J., Fagrelius, P., Heetderks, H., Jelinsky, P., Jelinsky, S., Lafever, R., Lambert, A., Lampton, M., Levi, M. E., Martini, P., Rockosi, C., Schmoll, J., Sharples, R. M., Sirk, M., …Zhou, R. (2024). Overview of the Fiber System for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. Astronomical Journal, 168(6), Article 245. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad76a4

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is a revolutionary instrument designed for precise measurements of cosmic distances and the investigation of dark energy. DESI utilizes 5000 optical fibers to simultaneously measure the spectra of dista... Read More about Overview of the Fiber System for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument.

Overview of Space-Based Laser Communication Missions and Payloads: Insights from the Autonomous Laser Inter-Satellite Gigabit Network (ALIGN) (2024)
Journal Article
Younus, O. I., Riaz, A., Binns, R., Scullion, E., Wicks, R., Vernon, J., Graham, C., Bramall, D., Schmoll, J., & Bourgenot, C. (2024). Overview of Space-Based Laser Communication Missions and Payloads: Insights from the Autonomous Laser Inter-Satellite Gigabit Network (ALIGN). Aerospace, 11(11), Article 907. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11110907

This paper examines the growing adoption of laser communication (lasercom) in space missions and payloads for identifying emerging trends and key technology drivers of future optical communications satellite systems. It also presents a comprehensive... Read More about Overview of Space-Based Laser Communication Missions and Payloads: Insights from the Autonomous Laser Inter-Satellite Gigabit Network (ALIGN).

SuperBIT Superpressure Flight Instrument Overview and Performance: Near-diffraction-limited Astronomical Imaging from the Stratosphere (2024)
Journal Article
Gill, A. S., Benton, S. J., Damaren, C. J., Everett, S. W., Fraisse, A. A., Hartley, J. W., Harvey, D., Holder, B., Huff, E. M., Jones, W. C., Lagattuta, D., Leung, J. S.-Y., Jauzac, M., Li, L., Luu, T. V. T., Massey, R., McCleary, J. E., Nagy, J. M., Netterfield, C. B., Paracha, E., …Vitorelli, A. Z. (2024). SuperBIT Superpressure Flight Instrument Overview and Performance: Near-diffraction-limited Astronomical Imaging from the Stratosphere. Astronomical Journal, 168(2), Article 85. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad5840

SuperBIT was a 0.5 m near-UV to near-infrared wide-field telescope that launched on a NASA superpressure balloon into the stratosphere from New Zealand for a 45-night flight. SuperBIT acquired multiband images of galaxy clusters to study the properti... Read More about SuperBIT Superpressure Flight Instrument Overview and Performance: Near-diffraction-limited Astronomical Imaging from the Stratosphere.

Data Downloaded via Parachute from a NASA Super-Pressure Balloon (2023)
Journal Article
Sirks, E. L., Massey, R., Gill, A. S., Anderson, J., Benton, S. J., Brown, A. M., Clark, P., English, J., Everett, S. W., Fraisse, A. A., Franco, H., Hartley, J. W., Harvey, D., Holder, B., Hunter, A., Huff, E. M., Hynous, A., Jauzac, M., Jones, W. C., Joyce, N., …Vassilakis, G. N. (2023). Data Downloaded via Parachute from a NASA Super-Pressure Balloon. Aerospace, 10(11), Article 960. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace10110960

In April 2023, the superBIT telescope was lifted to the Earth’s stratosphere by a helium-filled super-pressure balloon to acquire astronomical imaging from above (99.5% of) the Earth’s atmosphere. It was launched from New Zealand and then, for 40 day... Read More about Data Downloaded via Parachute from a NASA Super-Pressure Balloon.

Lensing in the Blue. II. Estimating the Sensitivity of Stratospheric Balloons to Weak Gravitational Lensing (2023)
Journal Article
McCleary, J. E., Everett, S. W., Shaaban, M. M., Gill, A. S., Vassilakis, G. N., Huff, E. M., Massey, R. J., Benton, S. J., Brown, A. M., Clark, P., Holder, B., Fraisse, A. A., Jauzac, M., Jones, W. C., Lagattuta, D., Leung, J. S.-Y., Li, L., T. Luu, T. V., Nagy, J. M., Netterfield, C. B., …Tam, S. I. (2023). Lensing in the Blue. II. Estimating the Sensitivity of Stratospheric Balloons to Weak Gravitational Lensing. Astronomical Journal, 166(3), https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ace7ca

The Superpressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT) is a diffraction-limited, wide-field, 0.5 m, near-infrared to near-ultraviolet observatory designed to exploit the stratosphere's space-like conditions. SuperBIT's 2023 science flight will... Read More about Lensing in the Blue. II. Estimating the Sensitivity of Stratospheric Balloons to Weak Gravitational Lensing.

WIVERN: a laboratory experiment for testing novel laser-based wavefront sensing techniques (2022)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Bharmal, N. A., Bramall, D., Calcines Rosario, A. Z., Morris, T. J., Schmoll, J., & Staykov, L. (2022, December). WIVERN: a laboratory experiment for testing novel laser-based wavefront sensing techniques. Presented at Adaptive Optics Systems VIII

WIVERN is a testbed for laboratory experiments in laser-based wavefront sensing. It emulates laser uplink from a 4m telescope with 1.6 arcsec seeing and laser back-scattering from up to 20 km. Currently there are three current wavefront sensing capab... Read More about WIVERN: a laboratory experiment for testing novel laser-based wavefront sensing techniques.

Robust diffraction-limited near-infrared-to-near-ultraviolet wide-field imaging from stratospheric balloon-borne platforms—Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope performance (2020)
Journal Article
Romualdez, L. J., Benton, S. J., Brown, A. M., Clark, P., Damaren, C. J., Eifler, T., Fraisse, A. A., Galloway, M. N., Gill, A., Hartley, J. W., Holder, B., Huff, E. M., Jauzac, M., Jones, W. C., Lagattuta, D., Leung, J. S.-Y., Li, L., Luu, T. V. T., Massey, R. J., McCleary, J., …Tam, S.-I. (2020). Robust diffraction-limited near-infrared-to-near-ultraviolet wide-field imaging from stratospheric balloon-borne platforms—Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope performance. Review of Scientific Instruments, 91(3), Article 034501. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5139711

At a fraction of the total cost of an equivalent orbital mission, scientific balloon-borne platforms, operating above 99.7% of the Earth’s atmosphere, offer attractive, competitive, and effective observational capabilities—namely, space-like seeing,... Read More about Robust diffraction-limited near-infrared-to-near-ultraviolet wide-field imaging from stratospheric balloon-borne platforms—Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope performance.

Simulating the optical performance of a small-sized telescope with secondary optics for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (2016)
Journal Article
Rulten, C., Zech, A., Okumurad, A., Laporte, P., & Schmoll, J. (2016). Simulating the optical performance of a small-sized telescope with secondary optics for the Cherenkov Telescope Array. Astroparticle Physics, 82, 36-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2016.05.002

The Gamma-ray Cherenkov Telescope (GCT) is a small-sized telescope (SST) that represents one of three novel designs that are based on Schwarzschild–Couder optics and are proposed for use within the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). The GAmma-ray Teles... Read More about Simulating the optical performance of a small-sized telescope with secondary optics for the Cherenkov Telescope Array.

Why do animal eyes have pupils of different shapes? (2015)
Journal Article
Banks, M. S., Sprague, W. W., Schmoll, J., Parnell, J. A., & Love, G. D. (2015). Why do animal eyes have pupils of different shapes?. Science Advances, 1(7), Article e1500391. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1500391

There is a striking correlation between terrestrial species’ pupil shape and ecological niche (that is, foraging mode and time of day they are active). Species with vertically elongated pupils are very likely to be ambush predators and active day and... Read More about Why do animal eyes have pupils of different shapes?.

Introducing the CTA concept (2013)
Journal Article
Acharya, B., Actis, M., Aghajani, T., Agnetta, G., Aguilar, J., Aharonian, F., …Zychowski, P. (2013). Introducing the CTA concept. Astroparticle Physics, 43(SI), 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2013.01.007

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a new observatory for very high-energy (VHE) gamma rays. CTA has ambitions science goals, for which it is necessary to achieve full-sky coverage, to improve the sensitivity by about an order of magnitude, to spa... Read More about Introducing the CTA concept.