Colloquium 09-11-05

 

3:30 p.m. in Room 307 of the Optical Sciences Meinel Building

Speaker:

Jim Burge

 

Title:

Mirror Technologies for Giant Telescopes

 

Host:

Mahmoud Fallahi

 

Abstract:

The University of Arizona is deeply involved in two such projects: the Giant Magellan Telescope, which combines light from seven 8.4-m mirrors, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which uses a 3-mirror design to achieve a 3.5° field of view.  Two other larger telescopes are underway that use hundreds of smaller segments to create their primary mirrors: the 30-m TMT (Thirty Meter Telescope), led by the Universities of California, and the 42-m E-ELT European Extremely Large Telescope from European Southern Observatories. 

 

This talk will summarize these telescopes, with an emphasis on interesting technical developments that enable the production of the mirrors.

 

Bio: 

Jim Burge is Professor of Optical Sciences and Astronomy.  His BS degree is in Engineering Physics from Ohio State University and he has MS and PhD degrees in Optical Sciences from University of Arizona.   His research in optical sciences covers optical design, fabrication, testing, optomechanics, and alignment.  Dr. Burge has over 200 technical publications, 3 patents, and has successfully led 10 PhD and 11 MS students to graduation (plus 4 more PhD's this year!).