Saturday April 5th
Lecturer: Dhwanil Patel (Leiden Observatory)
Language: English
Student Lecture – How photonics and sub-wavelength optics are shaping next-generation telescopes
The upcoming era of extremely large optical telescopes will require advanced instruments to fully use their capabilities. These technological advancements are needed to not only enhance the telescopes but also to tackle big challenges in astronomy, like searching for life on Earth-like planets and dealing with Earth’s atmosphere. In this talk, from the perspective of a student, I will present these challenges and discuss how modern optics, such as subwavelength optics and photonics, are used to bridge these gaps. We will then explore some of the on-sky and planned instruments based on these principles and conclude the talk with a brief discussion of some of my work.