Tailoring refractive index dispersion in ionic liquids: The influence of charge delocalization in cations.

In this work, we study the contributions that different molecular blocks have in the wavelength-dependence of the refractive index in ionic liquids. The ionic liquids chosen for this work are combinations of the bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide anion with cations based on four different heterocycles with different extents of charge delocalization. The analysis is performed in terms of the experimental electronic polarizability, which is obtained by combining measurements of refractive index curves and densities via the Lorentz-Lorenz equation.

Effect of the influence function of deformable mirrors on laser beam shaping.

The continuous membrane stiffness of a deformable mirror propagates the deformation of the actuators beyond their neighbors. When phase-retrieval algorithms are used to determine the desired shape of these mirrors, this cross-coupling-also known as influence function (IF)-is generally disregarded. We study this problem via simulations and bench tests for different target shapes to gain further insight into the phenomenon.

Beam shaping for laser-based adaptive optics in astronomy.

The availability and performance of laser-based adaptive optics (AO) systems are strongly dependent on the power and quality of the laser beam before being projected to the sky. Frequent and time-consuming alignment procedures are usually required in the laser systems with free-space optics to optimize the beam. Despite these procedures, significant distortions of the laser beam have been observed during the first two years of operation of the Gemini South multi-conjugate adaptive optics system (GeMS).

Pupil aberrations in Offner spectrometers.

The light path function (LPF) of an Offner spectrometer is presented. The evaluation of the LPF of this spectrometer enables its imaging properties to be studied for arbitrary object and image positions, while avoiding the more complicated analysis of intermediate images generated by the diffraction grating, which is often involved. A power series expansion of the LPF on the grating coordinates directly determines pupil aberrations of the generated spectrum and facilitates the search for configurations with small low-order aberrations.

Design of Dyson imaging spectrometers based on the Rowland circle concept.

We aim to show that Dyson imaging spectrometers can be easily designed by applying the concept of the Rowland circle to refracting surfaces. This allows us to conceive an analytical procedure that is based on the removal of astigmatism at two wavelengths. Following this procedure, high-optical-quality spectrometers can be designed even for high speeds.

Off-plane anastigmatic imaging in Offner spectrometers.

In this paper, the imaging performance of an Offner concentric imaging spectrometer is analyzed when the spectrometer entrance slit is disposed arbitrarily on the plane that is parallel to the grating grooves and contains the common center of curvature. Astigmatism-corrected designs are obtained for off-plane incidence on the grating if one point on the slit is located on the Rowland circle of the primary mirror. In this case, the combined system of primary mirror plus diffraction grating provides two astigmatic line images oriented parallel and orthogonal to the plane of diffraction, with the former located on the same plane as the slit.

Schwarzschild spectrometer.

This is a proposal and description of a new spectrometer based on the Schwarzschild optical system. The proposed design contains two Schwarzschild optical systems. Light diverging from the spectrometer entrance slit is collimated by the first one; the collimated light beam hits a planar diffraction grating and the light dispersed from the grating is focused by the second system, which is concentric with the first.

Two-wavelength anastigmatic Dyson imaging spectrometers.

High-quality Dyson imaging spectrometers are designed by applying a telecentric condition for off-axis image points. By imposing this condition for two different wavelengths, designs presenting low aberrations for the whole spectral range of the system are obtained. A UV-TO-NIR fast design (f/1.

The Offner imaging spectrometer in quadrature.

This is a proposal and description of a new configuration for an Offner imaging spectrometer based on the theory of aberrations of off-plane classical-ruled spherical diffraction gratings. This new spectrometer comprises a concave mirror used in double reflection and a convex reflection grating operating in quadrature, in a concentric layout. A very simple procedure obtains designs that are anastigmatic for a given point on the entrance slit and a given wavelength.

Imaging with classical spherical diffraction gratings: the quadrature configuration.

We review the theory of spherical diffraction gratings with regard to their imaging properties in off-plane arrangements. Our study is restricted to gratings with equally spaced grooves, and it is focused on the quadrature configuration, where the incident and diffraction planes are orthogonal to each other. We identify regions of low astigmatism and propose some monochromator mounts.