The Center for Adaptive Optics

Mission Statement: The mission of the UC Center for Adaptive Optics is to develop, apply, and disseminate adaptive optics science and technology in service to scientific research, healthcare, and industry.

Abstract:

The Center for Adaptive Optics is a Science and Technology Center that was funded for 10 years by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and is now funded by the University of California. The Center is headquartered at UC Santa Cruz, with members from eight other UC campuses and with many academic and industrial affiliates. Its mission is to advance and disseminate the technology of adaptive optics (AO) in service to science, health care, industry, and education. Its goal is to lead the revolution in AO by developing and demonstrating the technology, creating major improvements in AO systems, and catalyzing advances nationwide.

The CfAO implemented a highly successful education program to teach our graduate students methods of inquiry-based science teaching, and to apply this knowledge in programs that attract and retain a new generation of scientists, particularly among women and underrepresented minorities. This education program now resides in the Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators at UCSC, which serves graduate students throughout the science and engineering fields. The Akamai Workforce Initiative, a partnership between the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, UCSC's CfAO and ISEE, and Maui Community College, runs education and internship programs in Hawaii. The CfAO is building on UC’s strong leadership in AO by connecting UC campuses, by fostering research collaborations across disciplines, and by developing the next generation of young leaders in this field.

The Center brings together UC astronomers and visions scientists, today’s primary users of AO, with UC engineers and technologists who design and construct these systems. A hardware-based outgrowth of the center, the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics within UC Observatories, was established through a $9 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. This state-of-the-art laboratory explores new AO techniques, develops and tests new components, and provides training for our students and postdocs. E-mail: cfao@ucolick.org

Institutions

• University of California, Berkeley
  • Astronomy Department
  • School of Optometry
  • Vision Science Program
• University of California, Davis
  • Vision Science and Advanced Retinal Imaging Laboratory
  • Eye Center
• University of California, Irvine
  • Department of Physics and Astronomy
• University of California, Los Angeles
  • UCLA Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics
• University of California, Merced
  • School of Natural Sciences
• University of California, Riverside
  • Physics and Astronomy Department
• University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Department of Physics
• University of California, Santa Cruz
  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Laboratory for Adaptive Optics
  • Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators
  • UC Observatories, Lick Observatory
  • MEMS Lab
  • Ocean Sciences
• University of California, San Diego
  • Shiley Eye Center / Jacobs Retina Center
  • Department of Psychology
• University of California, San Francisco
  • Department of Ophthalmology
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  • Engineering
    
    

Affiliated Institutes

• California Institute of Technology
  • Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
  • Division of Geological & Planetary Sciences
  • Thirty Meter Telescope
  • Tech Astronomy Department
• UC Davis - Visual Psychophysics Laboratory
• University of Chicago
  • ChAOS – Chicago Adaptive Optics System
  • Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics
• Doheny Eye Institute
• Gemini Observatory
• Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (Canada)
• University of Houston
  • College of Optometry
• Indiana University
  • School of Optometry
• Maui Community College
  • Maui Community College Space Grant Program
• Montana State University
  • Center for Computational Biology
  • Mathematical Sciences
• National Solar Observatory
• University of Rochester
  • Center for Visual Science
  • Institute of Optics
• Schepens Eye Research Institute
• Space Telescope Science Institute
• University of Waterloo
  • Department of Physics & Astronomy
  • School of Optometry
• W.M. Keck Observatory
  
  

Industrial Associates

• ALU LIKE
• Ball Aerospace
• Bausch & Lomb
• Boston Micromachines
• Iris AO
• Lucent Technologies
• Lockheed Martin
• Maui Economic Development Board
• MEMS Optical