Closed loop adaptive optics with a laser guide star for biological light microscopy

We report on the development of a widefield microscope that achieves adaptive optics correction through the use of a wavefront sensor observing an artificial laser guide star induced within the sample. By generating this guide star at arbitrary positions and depths within the sample we allow the delivery of high-resolution images. This approach delivers much faster AO correction than image optimization techniques, and allows the use of AO with fluorescent imaging modalities without generating excessive photo-toxic damage in the sample, or inducing significant photo-bleaching in the flurophore molecules

LightForce: An Update on Orbital Collision Avoidance Using Photon Pressure

We present an update on our research on collision avoidance using photon-pressure induced by ground-based lasers. In the past, we have shown the general feasibility of employing small orbit perturbations, induced by photon pressure from ground-based laser illumination, for collision avoidance in space. Possible applications would be protecting space assets from impacts with debris and stabilizing the orbital debris environment. Focusing on collision avoidance rather than de-orbit, the scheme avoids some of the security and liability implications of active debris removal, and requires less sophisticated hardware than laser ablation. In earlier research we concluded that one ground based system consisting of a 10 kW class laser, directed by a 1.5 m telescope with adaptive optics, could avoid a significant fraction of debris-debris collisions in low Earth orbit. This paper describes our recent efforts, which include refining our original analysis, employing higher fidelity simulations and performing experimental tracking tests. We investigate the efficacy of one or more laser ground stations for debris-debris collision avoidance and satellite protection using simulations to investigate multiple case studies. The approach includes modeling of laser beam propagation through the atmosphere, the debris environment (including actual trajectories and physical parameters), laser facility operations, and simulations of the resulting photon pressure. We also present the results of experimental laser debris tracking tests. These tests track potential targets of a first technical demonstration and quantify the achievable tracking performance

Removing Orbital Debris with Lasers

Orbital debris in low Earth orbit (LEO) are now sufficiently dense that the use of LEO space is threatened by runaway collisional cascading. A problem predicted more than thirty years ago, the threat from debris larger than about 1 cm demands serious attention. A promising proposed solution uses a high power pulsed laser system on the Earth to make plasma jets on the objects, slowing them slightly, and causing them to re-enter and burn up in the atmosphere. In this paper, we reassess this approach in light of recent advances in low-cost, light-weight modular design for large mirrors, calculations of laser-induced orbit changes and in design of repetitive, multi-kilojoule lasers, that build on inertial fusion research. These advances now suggest that laser orbital debris removal (LODR) is the most cost-effective way to mitigate the debris problem. No other solutions have been proposed that address the whole problem of large and small debris. A LODR system will have multiple uses beyond debris removal. International cooperation will be essential for building and operating such a system.Comment: 37 pages, 15 figures, in preparation for submission to Advances in Space Researc

eXtreme Adaptive Optics Planet Imager: overview and status

As adaptive optics (AO) matures, it becomes possible to envision AO systems oriented towards specific important scientific goals rather than general-purpose systems. One such goal for the next decade is the direct imaging detection of extrasolar planets. An "extreme" adaptive optics (ExAO) system optimized for extrasolar planet detection will have very high actuator counts and rapid update rates - designed for observations of bright stars - and will require exquisite internal calibration at the nanometer level. In addition to extrasolar planet detection, such a system will be capable of characterizing dust disks around young or mature stars, outflows from evolved stars, and high Strehl ratio imaging even at visible wavelengths. The NSF Center for Adaptive Optics has carried out a detailed conceptual design study for such an instrument, dubbed the eXtreme Adaptive Optics Planet Imager or XAOPI. XAOPI is a 4096-actuator AO system, notionally for the Keck telescope, capable of achieving contrast ratios >10^7 at angular separations of 0.2-1". ExAO system performance analysis is quite different than conventional AO systems - the spatial and temporal frequency content of wavefront error sources is as critical as their magnitude. We present here an overview of the XAOPI project, and an error budget highlighting the key areas determining achievable contrast. The most challenging requirement is for residual static errors to be less than 2 nm over the controlled range of spatial frequencies. If this can be achieved, direct imaging of extrasolar planets will be feasible within this decade

LSST Science Book, Version 2.0

A survey that can cover the sky in optical bands over wide fields to faint magnitudes with a fast cadence will enable many of the exciting science opportunities of the next decade. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will have an effective aperture of 6.7 meters and an imaging camera with field of view of 9.6 deg^2, and will be devoted to a ten-year imaging survey over 20,000 deg^2 south of +15 deg. Each pointing will be imaged 2000 times with fifteen second exposures in six broad bands from 0.35 to 1.1 microns, to a total point-source depth of r~27.5. The LSST Science Book describes the basic parameters of the LSST hardware, software, and observing plans. The book discusses educational and outreach opportunities, then goes on to describe a broad range of science that LSST will revolutionize: mapping the inner and outer Solar System, stellar populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, the structure of the Milky Way disk and halo and other objects in the Local Volume, transient and variable objects both at low and high redshift, and the properties of normal and active galaxies at low and high redshift. It then turns to far-field cosmological topics, exploring properties of supernovae to z~1, strong and weak lensing, the large-scale distribution of galaxies and baryon oscillations, and how these different probes may be combined to constrain cosmological models and the physics of dark energy.Comment: 596 pages. Also available at full resolution at http://www.lsst.org/lsst/sciboo

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

Os saberes a ensinar e para ensinar matemática e suas relações com o ensino industrial brasileiro

Disponível em: http://revistas.upel.edu.ve/index.php/paradigma/article/view/6907/0Este trabalho é parte de uma pesquisa de doutorado que se preocupa em investigar o ensino de matemática no Liceu e na Escola Industrial de Florianópolis no período de 1937 a 1961. O objetivo é identificar os saberes a ensinar e para ensinar nos cursos do Liceu Industrial e da Escola Industrial de Florianópolis e quais as principais mudanças no ensino de Mat emática destas instituições de ensino industrial. Foram utilizados como referenciais teóricos Chervel (1990) sobre história das disciplinas escolares, Julia (2001) sobre cultura escolar , Hofstetter & Valente (2017) a respeito dos saberes a ensinar , Hofstet ter et al . (2017) na definição dos experts e Cellard (2008) para a análise documental . Percebeu - se que o ensino de Matemática era voltado para cálculos básicos, pois o enfoque era formar o aluno para a indústria, apesar de se intensificar o ensino de Álgeb ra e Trigonometria no início dos anos de 1940. Palavras - chave: Ensino Industrial. História da Educação Matemática. Experts . Saberes a ensinar. Saberes para ensinar

eXtreme Adaptive Optics Planet Imager: overview and status

As adaptive optics (AO) matures, it becomes possible to envision AO systems oriented towards specific important scientific goals rather than general-purpose systems. One such goal for the next decade is the direct imaging detection of extrasolar planets. An "extreme" adaptive optics (ExAO) system optimized for extrasolar planet detection will have very high actuator counts and rapid update rates - designed for observations of bright stars - and will require exquisite internal calibration at the nanometer level. In addition to extrasolar planet detection, such a system will be capable of characterizing dust disks around young or mature stars, outflows from evolved stars, and high Strehl ratio imaging even at visible wavelengths. The NSF Center for Adaptive Optics has carried out a detailed conceptual design study for such an instrument, dubbed the eXtreme Adaptive Optics Planet Imager or XAOPI. XAOPI is a 4096-actuator AO system, notionally for the Keck telescope, capable of achieving contrast ratios >10^7 at angular separations of 0.2-1". ExAO system performance analysis is quite different than conventional AO systems - the spatial and temporal frequency content of wavefront error sources is as critical as their magnitude. We present here an overview of the XAOPI project, and an error budget highlighting the key areas determining achievable contrast. The most challenging requirement is for residual static errors to be less than 2 nm over the controlled range of spatial frequencies. If this can be achieved, direct imaging of extrasolar planets will be feasible within this decade

Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology

Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements

Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology

Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements