The United Kingdom

Durham University, founded in 1832, has an excellent worldwide reputation in all areas of arts, humanities, natural and social sciences (ranked 78th in the QS World University Rankings 2018). The University has ~18,000 students (of whom 4000 are postgraduate and ~3,500 international students from over 120 countries). Its academic teaching and research programmes are delivered through 25 academic departments contained within three faculties: Arts and Humanities, Science, and Social Sciences and Health. The University also has 16 Colleges – Durham’s distinctive residential and educational communities. The University is engaged in a full range of higher educational activities, including high-quality teaching and learning, advanced research and scholarship, partnerships with businesses and other private and public sector bodies, and partnerships and initiatives with community and voluntary sector organizations. It provides a stimulating environment to nourish and support the needs of a world-class academic community.

The Centre for Advanced Instrumentation (CfAI), began working in the field of Adaptive Optics (AO) in 1994 and is a global centre of expertise in this field. Durham has ongoing research programs in several areas relating to astronomical AO, including turbulence profiling, real-time control, laser guide stars and wide-field tomographic wavefront sensing. The CfAI is also heavily involved in the development of the first generation of AO-enabled instrumentation for the ELT, including HARMONI and MOSAIC. Within the mobility program we offer the chance for researchers to collaborate on the development of the adaptive optics system for the EST, particularly with regards to the simulation and optimisation of tomographic AO system performance, characterisation of the turbulent atmosphere or prototyping of the real-time control system. In addition to our AO simulation cluster and RTC development hardware, visitors will be given access to our existing data archives and laboratory AO facilities for the development and testing of new instrumentation concepts for the European Solar Telescope.

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Contact

Dr. Tim Morris
Department of Physics
Durham University
South Road, Durham
DH1 3LE, UK
Email: t.j.morris@durham.ac.uk