Date/time
16/06/2015
9:30 am - 5:15 pm
Venue
The UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC)
Blackford Hill , Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ.
Event organiser
EPSRC Centre in Ultra Precision
Contact details
events@ultraprecision.org
Image courtesy of the ESO.
Optical Demands of Astronomy
The optical demands of astronomy have been primarily driven by the large science projects that have come from various global science funding programmes such as the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), but there are significant benefits from these demands for other commercial and military applications of large area optics and the associated detector and control systems. This event, organised by the EPSRC Centre in Ultra Precision and hosted by the UK-ATC, is hoping to bring together the UK’s commercial optical, high-resolution sensor and controls businesses with the relevant science and research communities to discover what is happening within their various different worlds and how these can be coupled together to create more business for the UK in these areas and how this can benefit the wider UK optics community.
Presentations are expected to encompass the upcoming science and engineering projects that will require optics for astronomy, technical issues currently blocking advances in scale for large optics, sensors and their control systems, the machinery and processes for production of components for large astronomy based systems and the potential for commercial exploitation of large area optic techniques in other volume production processes.
Confirmed Speakers:
- Prof Colin Cunningham
UK European Extremely Large Telescope Programme Director, The UK Astronomy Technology Centre
Optical Challenges of Building the World’s Largest Telescope - Paul Morantz
Principal Research Fellow, EPSRC Centre in Ultra Precision, Cranfield University
Grinding and Metrology of Large Freeform Optics - Dr Thomas Westerhoff, SCHOTT AG, Germany
Progress on ZERODUR® Lightweight Mirror Substrates - Dr Peter Hartmann, SCHOTT AG, Germany
ZERODUR® – The Extremely Homogenous Close to Zero Expansion Material - Dr Colin Coates
Product Manager, Andor Technology
High Resolution, High Performance Detector Solutions - Sarah Matthews, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UCL
The European Solar Telescope - Prof Mihalis Mathioudakis, Queen’s University Belfast
UK Participation in the Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope - Dr Sonja Franke-Arnold
Reader in Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow
Structured Light – A New Tool for Optical Communication and Material Investigation - Dr Robert Thomson, STFC Advanced Fellow and Lecturer, Heriot Watt University
Ultrafast Laser Inscription of Optical Components for Astronomical Instruments - Prof Nick Weston, General Manager, Renishaw Edinburgh
Two Generations of Compact Displacement Sensors
A tour of facilities will be available during the lunch session (placed are limited on the tours).
The EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Ultra Precision would like to thank the UK Astronomy Technology Centre and Andor Technology for their support with this event.
Download AgendaVisit the UK-ATC Website Download the UK-ATC Flyer Accommodation Information
Photographs will be taken on the day for marketing purposes. If you have any queries regarding this, please speak to staff at the registration desk on the day.
