Open AccessSmart optics in ast
Author(s) -
Welch Steve,
Greenaway Alan,
Doel Peter,
Love Gordon
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
astronomy & geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.168
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1468-4004
pISSN - 1366-8781
DOI - 10.1046/j.1468-4004.2003.44126.x
Subject(s) - adaptive optics , closing (real estate) , instrumentation (computer programming) , optics , wavefront sensor , wavefront , virtuous circle and vicious circle , key (lock) , physics , engineering , computer science , political science , computer security , law , economics , macroeconomics , operating system
The UK has several activities in the area of active and adaptive optics that have an excellent crossover with commercial applications. This article introduces some of the key areas of UK expertise - liquid crystal lenses, wavefront sensors and deformable mirrors - and shows how the need to develop these is closing the virtuous circle, with academic developments leading to commercial potential, and commercial development itself leading to enhancement in the instrumentation available for astronomy and space science