Contributions to adaptive optics, telescopes, remote sensing and space surveillance

下一代超大地基光学/红外望远镜（elt）将在科学能力和发现方面带来巨大飞跃。采用自适应光学（AO），这些望远镜将提供三倍于目前地面和太空望远镜的分辨率和高达100倍的灵敏度。他们将在从太阳系外行星系统到遥远宇宙中形成的第一批物体的研究等领域开辟新的前沿。AO是一种通过校正大气湍流的模糊效应来实现这种性能的技术。目前的AO系统已经在主要天文台提供了令人印象深刻的分辨率和灵敏度。下一代望远镜将需要高功率激光器，在高层大气中产生人造“激光导星”。来自这些的光被用来感知由大气引入的瞬时失真，允许AO系统补偿它。我的研究小组正在与世界各地的合作者合作，帮助开发和完善这些系统。

The next-generation of extremely-large ground-based optical/infrared telescopes (ELTs) will provide a huge leap in scientific capability and discovery. With adaptive optics (AO), these telescopes will provide three times the resolution and as much as 100 times the sensitivity of the current ground-based and space telescopes. They will open new frontiers in fields ranging from the study of extra-solar planetary systems to the first objects forming in the distant Universe. AO is a technology that enables this performance by correcting for the blurring effect of atmospheric turbulence. Current AO systems are already providing impressive gains in resolution and sensitivity at major observatories. The next-generation telescopes will require high-powered lasers that produce artificial 'laser guide stars' in the upper atmosphere. The light from these are used to sense the instantaneous distortion introduced by the atmosphere, allowing the AO system to compensate for it. My research group is working with collaborators worldwide to help develop and perfect these systems. Telescope performance is also highly-dependent on its location. An outstanding site can enable new scientific programs, as well as improving the efficiency of astronomical observations. For this reason, detailed site surveys are conducted prior to the establishment of new astronomical facilities. One aspect of my research is to contribute to the characterization of potential telescope sites. To this end, I am involved in the development of new instruments and techniques that allow my team to measure the strength and distribution of atmospheric turbulence at the sites. Our instruments have been deployed to characterize potential sites in the Canadian Arctic and high mountain sites in Tibet, and a new initiative is underway to make measurements at Dome A in Antarctica in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Canadians are participating, with scientists in Belgium and India, in the International Liquid-Mirror Telescope - an astronomical survey telescope located in the Himalayas. The ILMT is a zenith-pointing 4-metre telescope equipped with a large imaging camera. It will survey the sky passing overhead night after night, searching for transient events such as supernovae and monitoring gravitational lenses. The design of the ILMT builds on technology developed at the University of Laval and UBC. My students and I will participate in the commissioning and testing of the ILMT and in its scientific programs. My research includes studies of the near-Earth space environment. Space debris is a growing problem, with thousands of objects presently being tracked. But, there are potentially hundreds of thousands more objects that are too small to be seen by existing telescopes. I am working with NASA to help develop new facilities and techniques for the detection and study of space debris, and plan to expand this work using UBC's robotic telescope installed at Cerro Tololo in Chile.