Optical and Quasi-Optical Design and Analysis of
Astronomical Instrumentation including a Prototype
PhD thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.
The work of this thesis focuses primarily on the quasi-optical analysis of optical systems in
the Terahertz region of the spectrum. This included the development of novel simulation
techniques based on the principles of mode matching and gaussian beam mode analysis,
which are uniquely suited to the simulation of electrically large optical systems at millimeter
wavelengths. Additionally, several commercial software packages were used and
experimental measurements conducted for the purpose of both validating the newly developed
simulation techniques, as well as simulating / measuring specific elements beyond
the scope of the in-house software.
The main drivers behind this work were a Technology Research Programme of the European
Space Agency, the optical payload design of the future proposed Space Infrared-Telescope
for Cosmology and Astrophysics mission and work on the Atacama Large Millimeter Array.
Once the simulation tools were developed and proven an analysis of these optical
systems was conducted. In the case of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array this involved
the analysis of the proposed system, whilst for the other projects of the European Space
Agency, although an initial optical system was proposed, much work was also required in
maturing the design as well as conducting a standard analysis. This was carried out in conjunction
with the other groups of the Technology Research Programme, which included
the Terahertz optics group of NUI-Maynooth, the Space Research Organisation of the
Netherlands, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Space, and work groups of the universities
of Cambridge and Cardiff.
The work of this thesis also considered the technical feasibility and design of a future space
mission for the purpose of characterising Earth-type exoplanets up to 30 pc distant. This
involved the establishment of the science goals and the associated technical requirements,
as well as a detailed optical design of the proposed spectropolarimetric payload.
||Optical and Quasi-Optical Design; Analysis of
Astronomical Instrumentation; Prototype SAFARI Pixel;
||Science & Engineering > Experimental Physics
||22 Nov 2012 12:57
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