AN NSF-FUNDED CENTER

Center for Adaptive Optics

Director: Claire Max Annual Report August 1, 2006 Managing Director: Chris Le Maistre Associate Directors: Andrea Ghez Program Year 7 Lisa Hunter Reporting from November 1 Jerry Nelson 2005 to October 31 2006 Scot Olivier Austin Roorda David Williams

Phone: 831-459-5592 Fax: 831-459-5717 email: [email protected]

Institutions: University of California Santa Cruz University of California Berkeley California Institute of Technology University of Chicago University of Houston Indiana University University of California Irvine University of California Los Angeles University of Rochester Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Montana State University

I. SECTION I...... 4 I.1A GENERAL INFORMATION:...... 4 I.1B BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION FOR EACH NEW FACULTY MEMBER BY INSTITUTION...... 6 I.1C NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION FOR THE CONTACT PRIMARY PERSON REGARDING THIS REPORT.6 I.2 CONTEXT STATEMENT...... 7 Major Developments that have occurred within the Center’s Themes ...... 8 CENTER MANAGEMENT, PLANNING PROCESS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF PLANS FOR THE COMING YEARS ...... 19 SECTION II - RESEARCH ...... 21 II.1A CFAO MISSION, GOALS AND STRATEGIES...... 21 II.1B PERFORMANCE AND MANAGEMENT INDICATORS ...... 21 II.1C PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED ...... 21 II.2A THEMES ...... 23 Theme 2: AO for Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs)...... 23 Solar System planetary science (de Pater, Berkeley) ...... 36 Theme 3: Extreme Adaptive Optics (ExAO): Enabling Ultra-High Contrast Astronomical Observations...... 43 Theme 4: Compact Vision Science Instrumentation for Clinical and Scientific Use ...... 50 II.2B RESEARCH MANAGEMENT (METRICS)...... 59 Partnerships ...... 60 II.2C. RESEARCH PLANS FOR THE COMING YEAR ...... 61 Theme 2. Future Plans...... 61 Theme 3. Future Plans...... 62 Theme 4 Future Plans...... 62 SECTION III - EDUCATION ...... 67 EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES...... 67 PERFORMANCE AND MANAGEMENT INDICATORS ...... 67 PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED REACHING EDUCATION GOALS ...... 68 THE CENTER'S INTERNAL EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES...... 68 Professional Development Workshop...... 68 THE CENTER'S EXTERNAL EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES ...... 71 Stars, Sight, and Science Program ...... 71 SUMMARY OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES FOR CENTER STUDENTS ...... 74 MAINLAND INTERNSHIP PROGRAM ...... 74 Outcomes:...... 75 Mainland Internship Program: Goals...... 75 AKAMAI MAUI INTERNSHIP PROGRAM ...... 78 Akamai Optics Short Course...... 78 Akamai Internship Goals...... 79 Hawaii Island Akamai Observatory Program ...... 81 MAINLAND COURSES ...... 83 Hartnell Astronomy Short Course ...... 83 INTEGRATING RESEARCH AND EDUCATION...... 84 PLANS FOR YEAR EIGHT ...... 85 SECTION IV. KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER...... 87 IV.1. KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER OBJECTIVES ...... 87 Performance and management indicators ...... 87 IV.2. PROBLEMS...... 87 IV.3. DESCRIPTION OF KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER ACTIVITIES...... 88 IV.4. OTHER KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER ACTIVITIES ...... 89 IV.5. KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER ACTIVITIES - FUTURE PLANS ...... 91

− − 1 SECTION V. EXTERNAL PARTNERSHIPS...... 92 V.1 PARTNERSHIP OBJECTIVES ...... 92 Performance and management indicators ...... 92 V.2 PROBLEMS ...... 92 V.3 DESCRIPTION OF PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES ...... 92 V.4 OTHER PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES ...... 95 V.5 PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES - FUTURE PLANS ...... 96 SECTION VI. DIVERSITY ...... 97 OVERALL OBJECTIVES...... 97 PERFORMANCE AND MANAGEMENT INDICATORS ...... 97 CHALLENGES IN MAKING PROGRESS ...... 98 ACTIVITIES AND IMPACT ...... 98 Mainland Internship Program:...... 98 Akamai Maui Internship Program:...... 98 Hawaii Island Akamai Observatory Program:...... 99 Hartnell Astronomy Short Course:...... 99 CfAO Graduate Fellowship: ...... 99 CfAO Post-Bac Fellowship: ...... 99 Participation in minority serving organizations: ...... 99 Stars, Sight and Science: ...... 99 STUDENT RECRUITMENT: ACTIVITIES AND LESSONS LEARNED...... 99 SECTION VII. MANAGEMENT ...... 103 VII.1A ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY: ...... 103 VII.1B PERFORMANCE AND MANAGEMENT INDICATORS...... 103 VII.1C IMPACT OF METRICS...... 103 VII.1D MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS...... 103 VII.2 MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATIONS ...... 103 VII.3. CENTER COMMITTEES...... 104 VII.4 CHANGES TO THE CENTER’S STRATEGIC PLAN ...... 105 SECTION VIII. CENTER-WIDE OUTPUTS AND ISSUES...... 106 VIII.1A. CENTER PUBLICATIONS...... 106 Year 7 Peer Reviewed Publications...... 106 Books and Book Chapters ...... 110 Year 6 Publications: Non-Peer Reviewed ...... 111 VIII.1B YEAR 6 CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS ...... 115 VII.1C. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES NOT INCLUDED ELSEWHERE IN THE REPORT...... 118 VIII.2. AWARDS AND OTHER HONORS...... 118 VIII.3 UNDERGRADUATE, M.S. AND PH.D. STUDENTS ...... 119 VIII.4A THE GENERAL OUTPUTS OF KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER ACTIVITIES SINCE THE LAST REPORTING PERIOD...... 119 VIII.4B. DESCRIBE ANY OTHER OUTPUTS OF KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER ACTIVITIES MADE DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD NOT LISTED ABOVE...... 122 VIII.5 CENTER’S PARTNERS...... 122 VIII.6 SUMMARY TABLE ...... 125 VIII.8. MEDIA PUBLICITY THE CENTER RECEIVED IN THE REPORTING PERIOD...... 125 SECTION IX. INDIRECT/OTHER IMPACTS ...... 126 IX.1 INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES...... 126 IX.2 OTHER OUTPUTS, IMPACTS, OR INFLUENCES RELATED TO THE CENTER’S PROGRESS AND ACHIEVEMENT ...... 126 SECTION X BUDGET ...... 127

− − 2 X.1 YEAR 7 BUDGETS AND EXPENDITURES ...... 127 APPENDIX B – CENTER ORGANIZATIONAL CHART...... 128 APPENDIX C – EXTERNAL REVIEWER REPORTS ...... 129 A. REPORT OF THE EXTERNAL ADVISORY BOARD MEETING ...... 129 B. THE PROGRAM ADVISORY COMMITTEE ...... 133 APPENDIX D: MEDIA PUBLICITY MATERIALS ...... 136

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I. Section I

I.1a General Information: Date submitted August 1 2006

Reporting period November 1 2005 to Oct 31 2006

Name of the Center Center for Adaptive Optics

Name of the Center Director Professor Claire Max

Lead University University of California, Santa Cruz

Contact information, if changed since last reporting period

− Address 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 Phone Number (831) 459 5592 Fax Number (831) 459 5717 Email Address of Center Director [email protected] Center URL http://cfao.ucolick.org/ Names of participating institutions, role, and name of contact person and other contact information.

Institution 1 Name University of Rochester Address 274A Meloria Hall, Rochester, NY, 14627-0140 Phone Number (716) 275 6672 Fax Number (716) 271 3043 Contact Professor David Williams Email Address of Contact [email protected] Role of Institution at Center Lead institution in Vision Science Research

Institution 2 Name University of Houston Address Houston TX 77204 - 2020 Phone Number (713) 743 1960 Fax Number Contact Professor Scott Stevenson Email Address of Contact [email protected] Role of Institution at Center Eye Motion Algorithms

Institution 3 Name Indiana University Address School of Optometry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47402-1847 Phone Number (812) 855 7613 Fax Number (812) 855 7045 Contact Professor Donald Miller Email Address of Contact [email protected] Role of Institution at Center Vision Science, Optical Coherence Tomography

− − 4 Institution 4 Name University of Chicago Address 5640 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637 Phone Number (773) 702 8208 Fax Number (773) 702 8212 Contact Professor Edward Kibblewhite Email Address of Contact [email protected] Role of Institution at Center Sodium Guide Star Lasers

Institution 5 Name California Institute of Technology Address 1201 East California Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91123 Phone Number (626) 395 6798 Fax Number (626) 585 1917 Contact Dr. Richard Dekany Email Address of Contact [email protected] Role of Institution at Center Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics; Laser Guide Stars

Institution 6 Name University of California, Berkeley Address 36 Sproul Hall, Mail Code 5940, Berkeley, CA 94720 Phone Number (510) 642 8238 Fax Number (510) 642 3411 Contact 1 Professor James Graham Email Address of Contact [email protected] Role of Institution at Center Extreme AO, Astronomical Science, MEMS Tech.

Phone Number (510) 642 2380 Fax Number (510) 642 3411 Contact 2 Professor Austin Roorda Email Address of Contact [email protected] Role of Institution at Center Vision Science, Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope

Institution 7 Name University of California, Los Angeles Address 10945 Le Conte, Suite 1401, Los Angeles CA. 90095- Phone Number (310) 206 0420 Fax Number (310) 206 2096 Contact Professor Andrea Ghez Email Address of Contact [email protected] Role of Institution at Center Astronomical Science, Extreme Adaptive Optics

Institution 8 Name Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Address P.O. Box 808, L435, Livermore, CA 94551 Phone Number (925) 423 6483 Fax Number (925) 422 1796 Contact Dr. Scot Olivier Email Address of Contact [email protected] Role of Institution at Center Extreme Adaptive Optics, MEMS Technology.

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Institution 9 Name Montana State University Address Mathematical Sciences, Bozeman MT 172400 Phone Number (406) 994 5332 Fax Number Contact Professor Curtis Vogel Email Address of Contact [email protected] Role of Institution at Center Math modeling, Algorithm development

I.1b Brief biographical information for each new faculty member by institution. – No new faculty

I.1c Name and contact information for the contact primary person regarding this report.

Name of the Individual Chris Le Maistre Center role Managing Director, Center for Adaptive Optics − Address 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 Phone Number (831) 459 5592 Fax Number (831) 459 5717 Email Address [email protected]

− − 6 I.2 Context Statement. The Center for Adaptive Optics (CfAO) received its initial funding on November 1st 1999. In that first year, the Center activities were grouped under: Administration, Education and Human Resources and Research. The research function was further sub-divided into four goals:

Goal 1: Science with Adaptive Optics Vision Science Astronomical Science Goal 2: Bringing Adaptive Optics to the Broad Community Goal 3: Development of Advanced Instruments for Adaptive Optics Goal 4: Advanced Adaptive Optics.

The first NSF Site Visit was held in late September 2000 and the resultant report was critical of several aspects of the then CfAO program, including: a. Education: The report stated “the Center must create new and innovative programs inspired by the field of adaptive optics…. the Center must be a leader rather than a follower.” b. Research: Comments extracted from the report include: Planning – “While the science plan for individual portions of the research is strong, there are major deficiencies in integrating the planning process into the overall structure of the Center.” Astronomy – “The Astronomical Science has produced impressive evidence of progress” however “the plans for the review and distribution of AO-related software remains nebulous.” Vision Science – “the work has not identified major “meta goals” that show where the long range efforts will be focused.” And “to deliver AO to the biomedical community a broader input will be required…..there is a failure in communication between the Center and other groups” Knowledge Transfer – “It is of concern that the engineering faculty who were to be recruited were not.” And “the diversity of the Center’s participants need serious attention and could benefit from creative thinking…..the lack of a meaningful plan to attract and retain minorities is particularly striking.”

This negative evaluation by the Site Visit Committee of the CfAO’s first year led to its management team visiting the NSF headquarters to discuss the report and conclusions. Following this visit, a decision was made to restructure the Center and to initiate the process with a two and a half day retreat of the Center’s Executive Committee on February 11 – 13th 2001 at Monterey Bay. The retreat focused on the concerns expressed at the site visit and how to re-organize the CfAO’s activities to conform more closely to the recommendations. The Executive Committee formulated a Mission Statement and proposed a new structure for the Center’s research which would be introduced to Center members at a two day Proposal Retreat on March 3-4 2001. To facilitate discussions and ensure outcomes from this event, the Center hired a strategic planning consultant.

The subsequent outcomes of this intensive strategic planning in Year 2 were that the CfAO membership developed and endorsed a statement of the Center’s mission, goals and strategies (See Section 2.1), and the reorganization of the research into Themes as follows: Theme 1 – Education and Human Resources Theme 2 – Adaptive Optics for Extremely Large Telescopes Theme 3 – Adaptive Optics for Extreme Adaptive Optics Theme 4 – Adaptive Optics for Vision Science

− − 7

This reorganization of the Center’s education and research efforts into Themes enabled Center investigators to develop collaborative programs both within Themes and between Themes rather than work in the traditional “individual research investigator” mode. Collaborations between vision scientists and astronomers have been particularly encouraged. An extended description of the CfAO’s themes is provided in Section II.2

The new initiatives were implemented in November 2001 (Year 3), and have remained unchanged.

Major Developments that have occurred within the Center’s Themes

The changes implemented in Year 2 relative to the management of the CfAO’s science programs and their integration with the Education programs were positively reviewed by subsequent NSF site visit committees. Significant developments that have occurred within each theme over the years follow.

Education and Human Resources The Education program held its first Professional Development Workshop (PDW) for graduate students and postdocs in Kona in 2001, with a focus on inquiry-based learning. The 2001 NSF site visitors saw this as a major advance, as in addition to providing young researchers instruction in teaching techniques it had increased the ties between astronomy and vision science graduate students and post-docs. In that year the CfAO summer program for minority high school students “Stars, Sight and Science” utilized a positive partnering with COSMOS, a University of California summer science program for high school students. Having PDW attendees act as instructors in COSMOS utilizing inquiry-based techniques in their instruction also received favorable comment.

The site visit team was very impressed with the educational programs, stating they are amongst of the strongest components of the CfAO. “It has had a profound influence on the graduate students. The Hawaiian (Maui) involvement has had key developments in the past year and has the potential to be a significant legacy for the CfAO. The professional development workshop is unique among NSF Center programs and the impact of this on the participating students is exceptional.”

The success of Education and Human Resources (EHR) program led to an increase in funding for this theme from 15% to 17.5% of the CfAO budget as a result of the NSF Site Visit Committee recommendation in April 2003. In 2004 CfAO continued to extend the core elements of the program, to expand the number of people in CfAO involved in the EHR offerings, and to begin new initiatives.

Highlights presented at the 2004 review included:
an increase in Hawaii community involvement in the professional development workshop (PDW);
an increase (to 23) in the number of returning PDW participants who wished to assist in the course;
an increase to 135 the number of people involved in the EHR effort;
spin-off of a new UCSC “course offering” in education (Ed 286) based on CfAO workshops and short courses. Ed 286 is designed for science and engineering graduate students, and the enrollment increased from 14 in 2003 to 20 in 2004. The UCSC

− − 8 chemistry department accepted this course as an elective course outside the department that can be counted towards the Ph.D. degree.
an increased involvement of Maui Community College (MCC) with CfAO programs (2 faculty members assisted in courses); and
a short course in optics for Akamai Maui interns that has become a pilot for a new instrumentation course for MCC. It has also contributed to increased community support, recruiting efforts for new students, and efforts to create better projects.

EHR programs have a significant impact on the educational development of the interns and graduate students. A majority of the 11 graduate students from three CfAO sites interviewed by the Site Visit Committee mentioned that the PDW was as major factor in their graduate experience and, as a result, in their future career plans. Graduate students at Rochester used their experiences from the PDW to develop inquiry-based learning demonstrations for Saturday open- house programs for underrepresented minority students from the Rochester community.

The 2004 Site Visit Committee stated “The Education and Outreach (EHR) Theme continued making significant progress and is a model for NSF Science and Technology Centers and other organizations and institutions. Their programs are outstanding ….. meeting or surpassing all expectations.”

The Center has increased the linkages between CfAO and organizations that serve significant numbers of underrepresented groups. Eighty-six percent of the 43 interns that are (or have been) in the mainland internship program are on track, remaining enrolled in a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) program of study or have entered the STEM workforce. Six interns entered STEM graduate study in 2005 (4 of these were from underrepresented groups). The Hartnell Astronomy Short Course continued to be a successful recruiting tool and that college awarded CfAO the Hartnell President’s Partnership Award for Excellence in 2005. The committee commended the CfAO for its accomplishments in increasing the participation of underrepresented minorities.

The Site Visit Committee especially commended CfAO’s outstanding efforts within the Maui community. “Their collaboration with the Maui Community College resulted in the development of a new astronomy course. Additionally, their partnership with the Maui Economic Development Board, the Maui Community College, and the Air force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site (AMOS) stimulated new research collaboration and could well serve as a model for other islands.”

A continuing challenge faced by the CfAO EHR has been the development and implementation of projects on the Big Island of Hawaii. Mauna Kea is extremely important to the astronomical community, but weak local community support and involvement are areas of concern.

The Committee encouraged CfAO to continue working with their colleagues on Maui and the Big Island to build support for the implementation of an engineering technology degree program. Given the large number of underrepresented students that attend community colleges, this degree program has the potential for significantly increasing the diversity of STEM disciplines and is an investment in the future economic health of Hawaii.

The CfAO had an impressive number of meetings and workshops during Year 6. These included the Big Island Education Meeting, the Forum for Observatory and Technical Education, an NSF presentation (Opening Doors in Hawaii) and various meetings with observatory directors and other

− − 9 personnel. Additionally, CfAO sponsored the UH Hilo Internship Forum and continues the annual Hartnell Astronomy Short Course.

CfAO’s efforts to integrate research and education were especially commended. In particular, the Committee mentioned the sponsorship of the Education 286 course, a spin-off of the Professional Development Workshop. This course is taught at the graduate level and is especially designed for scientists and engineers who want to explore science inquiry teaching and learning. The Year 6 site visit Committee urged the Center to continue working with the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) Department of Education to refine and expand this course.

The Year 6 Site visit Committee commended the CfAO management on their efforts to make EHR an integral part of CfAO rather than an add-on. “This integration greatly facilitates the Center’s effort to effect a smooth transition to the post-NSF funding era. Many of the projects that have been initiated through the Center funding are likely to continue to be maintained through funding to support internships and graduate students.” The Committee strongly recommended that teaching programs be institutionalized within the UC and Hawaii educational systems and hoped that the Associate Director for Theme 1 would remain actively involved to assure a successful transition. The Committee hoped that the opportunities for obtaining funding for education to develop a new center in Hawaii that will involve the major observatories, community colleges, and high-tech industries will be pursued.

Theme 2 – Adaptive Optics for Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) In 2003 the NSF site visitors commented favorably on the decision to define a goal with clear objectives in multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) for ELTs and to focus on advanced concepts for sodium laser guide stars and modeling and simulation codes. The visitors recommended continuing development on the fiber based guide-star lasers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - “these high risk, high payoff lasers my provide a robust and lightweight alternative to the currently used dye lasers.

Laboratory for Adaptive Optics (Moore Foundation Funds) The University of California at Santa Cruz made a formal proposal to the Moore Foundation to fund a Laboratory for Adaptive Optics (LAO) and was subsequently awarded a grant of $9.6 million. The funds were to be used for the refurbishment of existing laboratory space and to support researchers in the first three years of the laboratory’s operation. To ensure continuation of laboratory funding beyond the life of the CfAO, the LAO is officially a unit of the Lick Observatories with a close affiliation to CfAO programs in astronomy.

The plan to develop a test bed to anchor simulation models using the recently awarded Moore Foundation funds was seen by the site visit committee as an opportunity to “significantly enhance the Center’s ability to contribute to the ELT community.”

The Year 4 visit by the NSF was part of the CfAO funding renewal process. The committee unexpectedly expressed several concerns about past performance and lack of tangible deliverables for Adaptive Optics for Extremely Large Telescopes (Theme 2), and the uncertain prospects for the external funding of Extreme Adaptive Optics (Theme 3) goals. There was also comment on a perceived lack of knowledge transfer from these themes - “Dissemination of experimental data and convening of technical hands-on workshops for laser guide star science and techniques should be key components in knowledge transfer activities.”

The CfAO response noted the need to convey “to the broader AO Astronomy community the considerable progress it has made in identifying national goals for the application of Adaptive

− − 10 Optics, the strategy and infrastructure (including the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics) that it is assembling to meet these goals, and the specific new results obtained using the Lick Observatory laser guide star facility. These two themes are difficult to concisely describe, as the identified goals in both cases are long term and costly to achieve. The ambitious goals of Themes 2 and 3 were identified during the CfAO’s Strategic Planning process in Year 2, and were approved by the External Advisory Board, Program Advisory Committee, and Site Visit Committees. The research underway in Theme 2 varies from specific tasks such as laser development to more clearly delineating broader issues and exploring potential solutions, for example, in new architectures for adaptive optics on Extremely Large Telescopes. In all cases, however, it was agreed that publication of results and their presentation at professional meetings was an extremely important component of dissemination that the CfAO must continue to emphasize.”

For both Themes 2 and 3, as indicated by the Report, the CfAO had itself concluded that NSF funds alone were not sufficient to carry the programs through to completion. “This was recognized at the onset and we are actively seeking funds from other sources to complete these ambitious hardware projects. Considerable thought has been applied to this issue, and funding strategies (with decision trees) have been identified. However, as discussed in the Renewal Report for Theme 2, Years 6 to 10 budgets and plans are not predicated on additional funding from any other source. They are based on understanding the fundamental concepts underlying the future development of Extremely Large Telescope systems. As discussed, any additional funds would be applied to the development of expensive full scale prototypes and hardware that are not included in the current plan.”

The funding issues raised in the Year 4 site visit were mostly put to rest the following year where the CfAO reported “The ELT landscape in the U.S. has changed dramatically. The Caltech CELT project, the AURA GSMT project, and the Canadian VLOT merged into a new Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project. The TMT now has sufficient funding to begin design work. A Project Manager was hired, a Project office established, and various committees organized. The CfAO director, Jerry Nelson, was appointed the TMT Project Scientist. ….. It is of note that the TMT AO working group is largely composed of CfAO members, who continue to actively investigate the feasibility of various AO concepts in consultation with the SAC and others.”

The Year 5 Site Visit Committee recommended that “the CfAO focus on areas of ELT technology and software development that have broad applicability, independent of any particular ELT concept or design; these areas will form the CfAO legacy that will endure when and if an ELT is constructed - there being no guarantee that a final ELT design would resemble current conceptual designs.

Progress on Laser Guide Stars The Center reported “that the Chicago Sum-Frequency Laser had been shipped to Palomar Observatory for testing with the PALAO adaptive optics system. It produced 3.5 W for a period of 60 hours in the lab and remains to be tested on the telescope.” The Committee congratulated the CfAO staff on this impressive turnaround and commended the management and the Blue Ribbon Committee1 on their analysis of the underlying problems with the laser and instituting a plan to accomplish the turnaround.

Progress had also been made with the LLNL fiber laser by scaling the yellow power level to 0.8 W. Hardware problems with the Neodymium fiber laser master oscillator had led to a six-month

1 Panel of experts assembled by CfAO to act as consultants and resolve difficulties being experienced.

− − 11 delay in laser testing while it was being repaired in Europe. Concern was expressed with the slow pace of progress for this laser and the loss of LLNL internal funds that helped sponsor this development.

A recommendation was made that the CfAO define guide star laser performance requirements for the AO community in order to guide them in the selection and development of the laser technology best suited for deployment at various telescopes.

In Year 6 the NSF site visit team’s report summary stated “The Center has already set up the LAO for modeling multi-conjugate adaptive optics and has made major progress on simulation tools towards adaptive optics for extremely large telescopes (ELT).”

With reference to Theme 2, the report contained the following statement “The highest priority of the last US Decadal Survey for ground-based night time astronomy is the design and development of a thirty-meter class extremely large telescope (ELT) using adaptive optics to achieve diffraction- limited resolution at infrared wavelengths. Currently there are two parallel initiatives working towards this goal: The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT, 30-meters in aperture) ….. and the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT, 22-meters in collecting aperture) consortium. CfAO addresses the needs of both programs even though, because of its home within UCSC, it is more focused on the TMT design and development.

Other ELT concepts under development with Adaptive Optics as an essential component include the 100-m OWL and 50-m Euro50 concepts being pursued in Europe.”

The site visit committee identified the technological challenges that must be met for Adaptive Optics to be successfully employed in ELTs. These include the development of:

(a) Powerful (>50W) sodium-wavelength (Na) lasers, preferably pulsed to enable mitigation of the so-called perspective elongation resulting from the thickness of the Na mesospheric layer and/or to enable the mitigation of Raleigh and Mie scattering in the lower atmosphere; (b) Wavefront sensors for many sub-apertures of ELTs; (c) Wavefront sensors with accurate response over the full range of atmospheric wavefront distortions; (d) Adaptive secondary mirrors to minimize the telescope emissivity and maximize its throughput; (e) Smaller adaptive mirrors when multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) or its variants multi-object adaptive optics (MOAO), etc. are used. (f) Algorithms to design, build and execute MCAO etc; (g) Methods of using the short laser pulses to mitigate the effects of perspective elongation in wavefront sensors; (h) The extension of AO to visible wavelengths; and, (i) The possible use of LGSs on ELTs in daytime for thermal infrared observations where the daytime sky brightness is acceptable.

The CfAO is actively engaged in items (a), (b), (c), (e), (f), (g) and h.

In Year 5 the CfAO had identified four goals for the ELT program. Progress on these main goals were reported in Year 6 as follows:

− − 12 1. Develop at least one workable point design for wide-field adaptive optics on a 30-m telescope. Several point designs have now been developed, in partnership with teams from the TMT programs The MCAO test bed at the UCSC Laboratory for Adaptive Optics (LAO) was completed and this system has begun testing MCAO hardware components, atmospheric tomography software, and systems modeling needed for an MCAO for ELTs.

2. Develop partnerships to co-fund hardware technology development for key components, including lasers. Laser development will be addressed in a following section. However another key technology that affects various ELT AO systems is deformable mirrors (DMs). The CfAO has currently focused on small, high-actuator-density micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) mirrors rather than on larger adaptive mirrors that are better suited for wide-field MCAO applications. MEMS mirrors are ideally suited for both astronomical MOAO and AO applications in vision science. This synergy makes it particularly appropriate for CfAO to pursue the MEMS path as will be further discussed.

3. Develop techniques for doing quantitative astronomy with laser guide stars. CfAO scientists continue to make valuable science observations with the Lick and Keck LGS AO systems. The Site Visit Committee recommended that CfAO continue to develop point spread function (PSF) reconstruction algorithms to generate the PSF for each observation (with or without laser guide stars). This has great potential to make all AO observations more efficient and increase the quality of the results of AO observations on any telescope, the Committee further commended the CfAO for their continuing efforts to make the results of the CfAO Treasury Survey (CATS) public, in both raw and reduced forms, as they become available.

4. Pursue astronomical science related to AO on 30-meter telescopes. The science goals of CfAO astronomers in Themes 2 and 3 should take into consideration the emerging and evolving science cases for ELTs. The Committee was particularly impressed by the results obtained on the region surrounding the Galactic Center from observations made with the Keck telescope laser guide star system.

2005 Status Report on Laser Guide Stars (2005 Site Visit Report) The Center reported on its progress towards the development of Sodium guide star lasers and provided an overall perspective on the current state of guide star laser technology. The Center was cognizant of the key technical issues related to the use of guide star lasers such as spot elongation, Raleigh and Mie scattering (of cirrus), the need to mitigate the cone effect, and to minimize fratricide in the scattering when using multiple guide stars. These issues can be addressed using pulsed guide star lasers and the Center had begun moving in this direction. Center encouraged activity included:

Development of commercial mode-locked guide star lasers by Coherent Technologies Incorporated (CTI); and
Development of pulsed fiber lasers at LLNL under funding from NSF’s Adaptive Optics Development Program (AODP). The Center’s overall assessment was that these activities, along with the earlier US Air Force’s development of a 50-W rod-based guide star laser, provide several reliable options for future guide star laser needs.

The Center’s efforts on the Chicago Sum-Frequency Laser have focused on supporting the installation and integration of the laser with the Palomar Observatory adaptive optics system (PALAO). The Laser power had been scaled from 3.5 W achieved last year to 8 W, with the goal

− − 13 of projecting 4 W onto the sky. At the time the committee met the power projected into the sky with the 8 W laser had not been determined.

The Site Visit Committee recommended that CfAO document the laser design in a technical report. While this laser does not have the appropriate pulse format to address spot elongation, it is capable of addressing Raleigh and Mie scattering and the significance of this should be evaluated and documented. In addition, CfAO should begin documenting reliability-related issues as the laser accumulates more time at Palomar.

Progress had also been made with the LLN L fiber laser by scaling the yellow power level from 0.8 W at this time last year, to 2.7 W, but still short of the goal of 5 – 10 W. The Neodymium fiber laser had been repaired and was now working at an acceptable level but problems were found with the erbium (Er) amplifier that had limited the available pump power at 1.58 μm to 6 W. In addition, damage problems with the periodically poled potassium titnyl phosphate (PPKTP), sum- frequency crystal had necessitated shifting to a relatively newly developed crystal, periodically poled stoichiometric lithium tantalite (PPSLT). LLNL planned to perform experiments with a new Er fiber amplifier and PPSLT crystals in late September 2005 and that would conclude the continuous wave (CW) efforts.

The Committee continued to be concerned with the slow pace of progress for this laser but recognized that in part, this was due to the loss of LLNL internal funds that had in the past helped sponsor this development. It hoped that a CW demonstration of 5 – 10 W is performed as scheduled and documented as a technology benchmark for an efficient compact and highly reliable guide star laser before moving on to pulsed systems. The Committee was concerned that pulsed systems have their own set of performance risks and the availability of a 5 – 10 CW source could be a significant improvement over existing dye lasers and provide an interim solution to more desirable pulsed lasers.

The Center staff was also involved with synergistic work on a pulsed fiber approach at LLNL that was funded by the NSF Adaptive Optics Development Program (AODP), and was closely following a commercial laser development at CTI. As the Center transitions to pulsed fiber sources, the Committee hoped that the AODP work would help to share risk and accelerate the development of next generation pulsed fiber guide star lasers.

The availability of a commercial mode-locked, amplitude modulated (pulsed) guide star laser source was a significant benefit to the astronomical community. The delivery of a CW mode- locked 12 W laser to Gemini North and the commitment to deliver a 20 W laser to Keck and a 50W laser to Gemini South on a firm fixed price basis indicated that CTI was developing useful products and was ready to address the guide star laser market with the pulse format needed. There was concern that CTI’s acquisition by Lockheed-Martin might make their future direction uncertain. Thus the Center should continue its vigilance in developing alternate sources and remain engaged with CTI for potential technology transfer should they be forced out of business.

The Site Visit Committee recommended that the CfAO define guide star laser performance requirements for the AO community in order to guide it in the selection and development of the laser technology best suited for deployment at various telescopes.

Transition Plans The visiting Committee commented that the CfAO is in an excellent position to lead the astronomy community’s work on the MCAO point design for ELTs and also in its participation in the implementation of ExAOC for Gemini. Because of the CfAO’s work on Atmospheric Tomography

− − 14 and MEMS technology, the CfAO should continue in the design of a MOAO instrument for 30-m telescopes where it appears to be in an excellent position to take the lead in the promotion, and hopefully, eventual construction of such an instrument.

Theme 3 – Extreme Adaptive Optics In 2002, the NSF site visit team commended the CfAO for defining an aggressive program that included a plan to install an ExAO instrument at Gemini or Keck within the next five years and the modeling and vigorous observing that has been performed to identify the role of ExAO in discovering and directly imaging new planets around other stars.

As was noted in Theme 2 above, the 2003 site visit report was critical of both Theme 2 and Theme 3 programs. Specifically that the funding of instruments for both themes was beyond the scope of available funds. Later developments in Theme 3 have put to rest these fears. In addition, the report indicated a level of disappointment at the lack of detail in the Theme 3 presentation to which the Center provided a written response. “We regret that a perception was created that there was reluctance to provide such detail. We had prepared our Theme 3 presentations under the (mistaken) assumption that the Committee would want to see the “big picture” without a great deal of technical detail. Some of our technical material within Theme 3 has been already published, and more will be published later this year. The perceived delay is not uncommon with the requirements of data acquisition, analysis and presentation. In any new area there are technical questions that need to be addressed, but we are confident that promulgation of our design both in the literature and at conferences will allay the concerns of the Committee.”

In 2004, considerable progress had been made in conceptual studies and the potential for funding an instrument at an observatory. The visiting committee endorsed the then current CfAO roadmap for Theme 3 and noted “CfAO continued to pursue the design and construction of an extreme AO system for direct detection of extrasolar planets and had assembled a broad multinational team to tackle this program. CfAO had also developed simulation tools to address complex science/instrument tradeoffs with both CfAO and the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics (LAO) providing important seed funding for fostering this effort. The CfAO led team had been selected as one of two teams in competition for an ExAO design for a Gemini Telescope. CfAO had also begun modeling efforts to identify the science reach of a high-contrast AO system on a 30-meter telescope.”

During Year 6 a major effort of CfAO and its partners was the preparation of the proposal for the Gemini Extreme AO Coronagraph (ExAOC) contract, which was subsequently accepted and fully funded by Gemini. With LLNL the lead institution, CfAO would continue its research activities associated with high-contrast AO instruments. The Site Visit Committee considered this a very significant achievement by CfAO and offered congratulations this great success. The role of CfAO in providing synergy among different groups involved in the ExAOC proposal and matching their areas of expertise had been crucial to the proposal. CfAO supports or develops several enabling technologies for this and future ExAO instruments, including:

i) MEMS deformable mirrors; ii) Fast optimal wave-front control; and iii) Apodized-pupil coronagraphs.

The newly created LAO (an entity of the Lick Observatory) has been actively involved in the studies of high-contrast imaging techniques and the Committee was impressed by the laboratory test-bench experiment as a proof-of-concept for the aphorized-pupil imager.

− − 15 CfAO partners have been actively involved in astronomical programs of high-contrast imaging, preparing to use ExAOC and other similar instruments as they become available. A strong international team has been formed around the development of the ExAO science case. This work will continue through Years 7-10 and beyond.

The Committee endorsed the CfAO work plan on Theme 3 for Years 7-10. “The effort will be primarily directed to research and development (R&D) and science support of ExAO, without duplicating or substituting the work on actual construction of the Gemini instrument. The combination of CfAO and LAO positioned them to take the lead in future projects of ExAO instruments and the visiting committee strongly encouraged CfAO to compete in future projects related to ExAO, capitalizing on its achievements.”

The Committee recommended that CfAO extend its role “in the coordination of ExAO research by engaging new partners in these activities – for example, by organizing thematic workshops or conferences and keeping the community informed on the CfAO website.”

Theme 4 – Vision Science In 2002 the site visit committee commended progress in Theme 4: “The researchers in the vision science theme have continued to produce interesting scientific results and develop exciting new instruments for measuring the optics of the eye and viewing the retina in vivo. Particularly striking are the measurements using AO that show widely varying red/green cone ratios in persons with normal color vision. They have also demonstrated the ability of the confocal AO scanning laser opthalmoscope to view different layers of the retina and to image individual red blood cells in retinal capillaries. Even more promising in terms of resolution, is the coherence- gated AO retina camera which is in the early development stage.”

In 2003 the visiting committee observed that “the instruments created in the theme are already beginning to find useful applications in clinical environments in imaging vascular disease at high resolution, monitoring retinal blood flow without flourescein angiography, and tracking photoreceptor loss in retinal degenerative diseases. Future applications include tracking ganglion cell loss in glaucoma, and use in retinal surgery with an AO surgical microscope.

The Science in the Astronomy programs, the focus on instrumentation in the Vision Science theme and the increased interaction between astronomers and vision scientists also received positive comments. There was a major concern and some lesser criticism that is commented on below.

Theme 4 continued making advances in the application of AO to vision science instruments and in 2005 the site visit committee observed that

“1) The AO spectral domain OCT retinal imaging system at the University of Indiana became operational and created retinal images with the highest lateral resolution obtained to date, which, for the first time, allows visualization of the cone photoreceptor cells in a cross-sectional view. The instrument uses a spectral-domain OCT approach with AO correction of the wavefront in the detector optical train. 2) Detailed studies of eye motion were obtained from the AO scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO) at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB). This method was shown to be superior to the best eye tracking method currently in use (dual Purkinje image tracking). 3) The position of the fixation point with respect to the center of the macula was measured at the University of Rochester (UR) with an AO ophthalmoscope.

− − 16 4) The fixation of the eye in the presence of normal eye movement was studied using the AO SLO at UCB. The fixation target was projected directly onto the retina by modulating the projected beam, so that the exact retinal area used by the viewer for fixation could be monitored continuously. This method has potential application in identifying and determining the viability of areas of functioning retinal tissue in diseased retinas. 5) The AO retinal imaging system was used at the University of Rochester to visualize the cone photoreceptor mosaic and detect genetic photo pigment mutations. 6) Measurements were made with the flood illuminated AO retinal imaging system to study variations in the cone reflectance over time periods of seconds. A model involving the assumption of changes in the index of refraction of the cones due to bleaching effects was used, with some success, to explain the phenomenon. 7) Boston Micromachines Corporation (BMC) MEMS deformable mirrors were installed and operated successfully in AO retinal imaging instruments at UCB and UR. The LLNL AO phoropter was also retrofitted with a new BMC MEMS deformable mirror to take advantage of its increased stroke. 8) Dye-marked retinal ganglion cells were imaged in experimental animals at UR. 9) The members of the CfAO Theme 4 group obtained two Bioengineering Research Partnerships (BRP) National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants. The funds involved in these grants amount to $15,000,000 over a 5-year period. 10) Members of the Theme 4 group at UR have written a handbook on the practical aspects of employing AO in vision science. The book will be published by J. Wiley and Sons and is titled Adaptive Optics for Vision Science – Principles, Practices, Design and Applications. 11) The Theme 4 group continued to effectively collaborate with other members of CfAO Themes on vision science issues.

The NSF Committee was highly impressed with these outstanding accomplishments.

In 2006 CfAO transferred the Adaptive Optics phoropter to Bausch & Lomb for evaluation to determine its commercial potential. Also in accord with the 2005 NSF site visit team recommendation, a limited number of retinal specialists in the Rochester and the Los Angeles areas were contacted to explore the needs for AO enhanced retinal imaging and the clinical viability of the AO phoropter technology.

Many of the goals for the final period of the NSF grant for the Theme 4 group have already been accomplished or are well on their way to being accomplished. The Theme 4 group is actively considering seeking support for establishing a new center that may be called the Center for Functional Imaging of the Retina. Within such a center, while the use of adaptive optics would be an important and integral part of its activities. The center’s focus would be on broader insights that can be obtained in studying the retina and vision with the new instruments developed and under development.

MEMS Technology The CfAO recognized very early that that advances in the functionality of MEMS deformable mirrors would result in their providing a critical enabling technology for three of the CfAO themes. Under its leadership funding has been provided for the development of MEMS deformable mirror arrays by several partner institutions, some without CfAO support. Several different technologies with differing levels of risk and potential performance capability have been supported. While the near term lower risk approaches meet the needs of the science vision community, the ELT and ExAO applications for deformable mirrors require the higher risk, longer-term developments. There has also been an inherent risk in pursuing these goals in that the

− − 17 companies involved are relatively small and some did not survive the aftermath of the down turn in the telecom industry.

However in 2004 CfAO underscored its and UC Santa Cruz’s commitment to this important area of technology with the recruitment of a new faculty member who specializes in MEMS development and continued to fund MEMS deformable mirror development at Boston Micromachines Corp. and IRIS AO.

As stated earlier, MEMS Deformable Mirror Chips (DMCs) play a key role in the success of the three CfAO projects or Themes:

1) Theme 2, AO for Extremely Large Telescopes; 2) Theme 3, AO for Extreme adaptive Optics; and 3) Theme 4, AO for Vision Science.

Each Theme requires a different specification for the MEMS Deformable Mirror Chip – for example, mirror array count. In 2005 the CfAO team produced detailed specifications for each Theme to provide the MEMS industrial and university communities with guidelines for DMC development. More than five organizations were developing DMCs to meet these specifications. By circulating the new DMC specifications, CfAO hoped to stimulate additional interest in the MEMS community to address the challenge to design and manufacture large count (10,000 elements), large stroke (>10 μm) mirror arrays with supporting electronics.

In 2005, CfAO made substantial progress in the purchase and characterization of a 32x32 (1024 mirrors) DMC manufactured by Boston Micromachines Corporation (BMC). The evaluation of the BMC mirror chips highlighted the improved performance and utility of the DMC. The price for the 32x32 DMC was $25,000 and that of the larger arrays under development will be substantially more. While the DMC price is less of an issue for telescope projects (Themes 2 and 3) it does impact the higher volume market projected for Theme 4 (Vision Science) where the price must be reduced to (at most) $1000 - $3000 per chip.

The higher mirror count (4,000 – 10,000 elements) DMCs required for the telescopes are still in the development stage with 4,000 and 10,000 element DMCs scheduled for delivery in late 2006 and 2007, respectively. Of the MEMS development efforts funded by CfAO in 2005, the following progress was made: a) Boston Micro Machines (BMC) delivered and members of CfAO characterized a 140 element, continuous membrane DMC with a ~ 4 μm stroke or mirror displacement, and a 4.4 mm aperture; b) IRIS AO made some progress with their hexagonal discrete planar element design, but progress was incremental; and c) MEMX demonstrated their discrete, hexagonal planar element design with 50 μm stroke and greatly improved element flatness. This was excellent progress, but the company has not developed drive electronics for their device.

In late 2005, BMC appeared to be the company most likely to deliver the first 4000 element DMC with at least a 4 μm stroke. The long-term goal for mirror stroke for Themes 2, 3 and 4 is at least 10 μm, and a number of MEMS groups are attempting to meet this very difficult specification in 2006 – 2007.

Another major challenge involves the architecture for the high voltage (~ 150 Volts) mirror driver electronics. The present electronics for the 1000 mirror array are off-chip electronics on pc boards.

− − 18 These will probably be used to drive the 4000 element DMC, but an on-chip or attached Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) architecture for electronics will be required for the 10,000 element array. Fully integrated on-chip electronics on the DMC requires a long lead-time design, fabrication and verification cycle and consequently a substantial increase in price. The 2005 Site Visit Committee commended CfAO for the substantial progress made in FY 2005 in the optical bench demonstration and characterization of a 32-x32 DMC and for the creation and circulation of detailed DMC specifications for Themes 2, 3 and 4.

Knowledge Transfer Over the years the CfAO has consolidated its Knowledge Transfer Activities. some highlights are:

The Professional Development Workshops;
The CATS program to provide raw and reduced AO data to the community;
Publication of the first significant papers based on the use of laser guide stars;
Active commercial partnerships for MEMS development;
The annual Adaptive Optics Summer School;
The publication in June 2006 by Wiley of the manual “Adaptive Optics for Vision Science”;
Continued networking between vision scientists and astronomers at all levels – Principal Investigators, post docs and graduate students.

In the most recent NSF site visit (2005), the report on Knowledge Transfer stated - “The transfer of AO knowledge by the CfAO to the broader community continued at an excellent pace. This transfer spanned the full range of Center activities. It was exemplified by the Professional Development Workshops, and, in astronomy, by the CfAO Treasury Survey (CATS) to provide a large archive of unique observations of galaxy cores, the continued publication of a broad range of scientific results obtained with AO at Lick and on Keck, and the on-line availability of the excellent materials for the AO course taught by Claire Max and colleagues. In vision science, CfAO had stimulated particularly dramatic advances in, for example, industrial activities involving the incorporation of MEMS deformable mirror technology into ophthalmic instrumentation that holds great diagnostic promise in the clinical setting. The proliferation of spin- off companies to exploit this technology was particularly impressive. The soon-to-be available AO vision-science manual will be a useful and potentially far-reaching way that the Center can bring the vision-science scientific community up to speed on AO techniques.”

Center Management, Planning Process and Implementation of Plans for the Coming Years

The extensive NSF OIG audits of the CfAO have indicated sound financial and administrative management.

This view was reinforced by the Year 5 NSF site visit report that concurred with the External Advisory Board that the Center is working as a cohesive whole and the current management structure is effective. Astronomy expertise in signal processing is now being used in the Vision Science theme, both Astronomy and Vision Science benefit from work in MEMS development, and all themes benefit from EHR projects and vice versa. The review process for funding new and existing proposals is open, and runs well: vibrant proposal activity produces requests for

− − 19 150% of available funds; 90% are at least partially funded. Themes 1, 2, 3, and 4 have roadmaps and well-developed metrics for success.

The Year 6 site visit report commended the Center for the smooth transition to a new Director (Claire Max replaced Jerry Nelson who accepted the position of Chief Scientist for the TMT program) and noted that Center management continues to be effective. The Center continues to interact effectively with the UCSC Oversight Committee, External Advisory Board, and Program Advisory Committee. The current management structure has successfully brought together the AO community and integrated research and education. The center has held a retreat to discuss transition strategy for continuing operations after NSF funding ends and solicited input from the members to plan for the Center’s annual retreat.”

The management and transition strategy for Theme 1 is excellent. Many of the projects that have been initiated through the Center funding will continue to be maintained through funding to support internships and graduate students.

Theme 2 has successfully obtained independent funding to establish the LAO. The transition strategy incorporates competing for the design and construction of AO instruments for the TMT or other telescopes. Design of visible light AO and laser guide star related research would also be pursued as possible areas to obtain funding. Identifying additional applications for the AO technology and obtaining independent funding to support the LAO are recommended during the transition period.

Theme 3 has effectively utilized the Center’s resources for the design of an ExAO system that resulted in a contract to develop such a system for the Gemini South telescope. The transition strategy involves implementation of this technology in other large telescopes and NASA planet imaging projects. The specifications of MEMS that are needed in astronomy and vision science applications have been thoroughly investigated. Theme 3 will continue interacting with companies and research groups that are developing MEMS.

Theme 4 has been successful in incorporating AO in retinal imaging systems and in obtaining research funding from BRP to build several AO retinal imaging instruments. A manual on the use of AO in vision science has been written and submitted for commercial publication. The transition strategy includes efforts for commercialization of AO retinal imaging instruments, evaluation of the clinical application of AO phoropter, continued progress for renewal of the BRP grants, and establishment of a new center for retinal functional imaging.

As a whole, the Center envisions continuing and strengthening its core functions at the end of the funding period from NSF. These functions include facilitating scientific interactions through regular workshops and retreats and providing education in optical science. Several non-NSF funding sources including endowment and the UC multi-campus research unit have been identified as candidates for support of the Center’s staff and core functions.

− − 20 Section II - Research

II.1a CfAO Mission, Goals and Strategies

Mission: To advance and disseminate the technology of adaptive optics in service to science, health care, industry, and education.

Goal: To lead the revolution in AO, by developing and demonstrating the technology, creating major improvements in AO systems, and catalyzing advances nationwide within the next decade.

Strategies: CfAO will pursue its purpose and achieve its goal by: 1. Demonstrating the power of AO by doing forefront science. 2. Increasing the accessibility of AO to the scientific community. 3. Developing and deploying highly capable AO systems and laser beacons. 4. Coordinating and combining research efforts to take advantage of the synergies afforded by the Center mode of operations. 5. Integrating education with our research. 6. Building a Center community that is supportive of diversity through vigorous recruiting, retention, and training activities. 7. Encouraging the interaction of vision scientists and astronomers to promote the emergence of new science and technology. 8. Leveraging our efforts through industry partnerships and cross-disciplinary collaborations.

II.1b Performance and Management indicators

Research – When preparing their proposals for funding, researchers must include progress milestones for the coming year. Subsequently on year’s completion, when evaluating research results the Director and Executive Committee review the milestones predicted vs. results achieved and use this as a criteria for determining future funding. The quality of the research is taken into account based on results obtained and publications etc.

Administrative management - The Center has a Managing Director (reporting to the Director) who is responsible for the day-to-day management and oversight of the various CfAO activities. These include budgets and expenditures, arrangement of retreats, workshops, and summer schools, report writing, facilities, etc. On completion, retreats and the summer school are reviewed and evaluated to determine if improvements can be made. The Center’s EAB meets with the Center Executive each year and includes in their report an evaluation of management performance. The two most recent NSF audits made a special mention of the high level of competence in the record keeping and administration of the Center.

II.1c Problems Encountered The problems encountered in the earlier years have been described in the context statement. The Center has been proactive in promoting the development of MEMS deformable mirrors. While steady progress has been made with one company in particular, several have struggled after the cutbacks that occurred in the telecom industry several years ago. In year 7 one of these companies, MEMX, that we had been funding to develop such mirrors declared bankruptcy. This is disappointing as these mirrors are important for the commercial development of vision science

− − 21 instruments and over the longer term for astronomy applications. Each manufacturer has a different approach to fabricating these mirrors, which impacts their performance. New technologies need innovative approaches and losing a manufacturing source and the associated expertise impacts the rate of advances that would otherwise be made.

Contract Negotiations with Gemini. The signing of the contract between Gemini Observatories and CfAO affiliated institutions was delayed till June 2006. The construction contract for a high contrast coronagraph is $23.5 million dollars (including contingencies) over four years. CfAO’s Theme 3 – Extreme Adaptive Optics research activities include the development of the science case for the Gemini high contrast coronagraph. The signing delay set back the Theme 3 research agenda – the funds are encumbered but there is a lag in the expenditures because of the later start.

Stroke limitations at Iris, AO. In their attempts to increase fabrication-process quality, Iris has had to sacrifice stroke performance. Early prototypes were capable of >10μm of stroke, but the process was not suitable to build functional arrays. In order to make the process more robust, Iris switched to the SUMMiT IV surface micromachining process. The film thicknesses in this standardized process are more than double the thicknesses used before. As a result, the mirror- segment elevation obtained by the flexures is about half of what it was before, resulting in half of the stroke. Now that the process is working, Iris will focus some effort into post processing steps to increase stroke.

Challenges at Boston Micromachines. In the fabrication of long stroke MEMS mirrors, a key challenge is the deposition and etching of thick oxide films. These films define the electrostatic gap and thus the capable stroke of the devices, as achievable stroke increases linearly with actuator gap. The longer-stroke deformable mirrors produced to date by Boston Micromachines Corporation have typically used an electrostatic actuator gap of up to 10μm, allowing stroke of up to 6μm. By thickening the sacrificial oxide layer, the actuator gap is increased and actuator stroke is extended. There is a cost of increased actuation voltage. Modifications in actuator span and membrane geometry can compensate this effect. A further challenge associated with increased gaps is thick films etching of straight narrow channels required for actuator anchor attachments. In recent work by BMC in collaboration with MEMSCAP, a MEMS foundry with extensive skill in new manufacturing approaches and a history of making successful optical MEMS devices a new deep etch process was developed.

This deep etch process should be useful for actuator gaps up to 20μm. Using these design guidelines and commercial modeling software that has proven to accurately model electromechanical behavior of BMC devices (within ~10%), designs have been generated that can meet the 8um stroke actuator goals. This design extends the thickness of sacrificial oxide layers to ~16μm, which will allow actuator stroke of 8μm at 260V when combined with the extended actuator span and a thinner actuator membrane.

Speckle Problems in OCT at Indiana. In Year 6, Indiana pursued a new OCT technique termed spectral-domain OCT, combined with AO. Success with this approach resulted in unprecedented 3D resolution (3.0x3.0x5.7 μm) in the living human eye and the first AO SD-OCT publications (SPIE Proceedings and Optics Express). Experience with the camera, however, exposed several technical shortcomings that limited its usability for vision science and clinical experiments. After a systematic evaluation of potential solutions, they converged on a completely new AO-OCT instrument that, while still based on spectral domain, employed optical fibers (point scanning) rather than all bulk optics (areal illumination). In Year 7 the new camera was developed and evaluated, and effectively overcame the previous shortcomings. Two serious obstacles, however, remain. These are speckle noise and eye motion artifacts, both of which degrade the quality of the

− − 22 retinal image and limit the full potential of AO-OCT. While it is not known whether effective solutions can be developed (especially for reducing speckle noise), Indiana will investigate both in the remaining years of CfAO.

Failure to improve cone classification methods at Rochester. The Rochester group had reason to believe that the main limitation on the in vivo classification of the photopigment type within single cones is the temporal variation in cone reflectance, since the method developed by Roorda and Williams requires comparing images taken at different times. To eliminate this source of noise, they redesigned the imaging path of the current Rochester Adaptive Optical Ophthalmoscope to image photoreceptors with two wavelengths simultaneously. Though they have successfully captured the absorptance images with dual science cameras from 3 subjects, they did not find the anticipated benefit of reducing noise from the variation in cone reflectance over time. They currently do not understand whether their initial assumption about the importance of this noise was incorrect, or whether the new method has introduced another source of noise. Rochester anticipates that additional experiments in Year 8 will clarify this.

II.2a Themes

Theme 1 is the Education and Human Resources Theme and is presented in Section III

Theme 2: AO for Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs)

Introduction: The highest recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences’ Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Report for ground-based astronomy2 was the design and construction of a 30-m telescope equipped with adaptive optics. Developing an adaptive optics system for such a telescope is extremely challenging and requires an extension of almost every aspect of AO system design and component technology. The CfAO objective in this Theme for the second five years of the Center is to make a major contribution towards achieving this national priority, especially in areas where cross-institutional and multidisciplinary collaboration is required. In Year 6, Theme 2 of CfAO was operating on a plan that stressed four development areas: 1) Develop at least one workable “point design” for multi-conjugate adaptive optics on a 30-m telescope; 2) Develop partnerships to co-fund long-range hardware technology development for key AO components, including laser guide stars; 3) Develop techniques for doing quantitative astronomy with laser guide stars; 4) Pursue astronomical science related to AO on 30-m telescopes, especially using laser guide stars, deconvolution methods, and spatially resolved spectroscopy. These goals represented areas where the CfAO and its “center mode of operation” make unique contributions to astronomy.

In preparation for Year 7, we considerably modified the emphasis to focus now on three main areas: 1) MEMS deformable mirror development, 2) Sodium guidestar laser development, and 3) Astronomical science observing using AO. The readjustment reflects several developments during Year 6. A) the main theoretical results and concepts for a workable “point design” for an MCAO3 system (and new variants, such as MOAO4) were mostly completed as of Year 6, plus a

2 McKee, C. and Taylor, J. 2001, "Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millenium," National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences (National Academy Press: Washington DC). 3 MCAO = Multi- Conjugate Adaptive Optics

− − 23 number of large telescope projects have now received funding for design studies and are picking up a considerable portion of the more detailed AO design efforts. Many of the participants in the CfAO funded analysis and modeling activity are now key players in these telescope design efforts. B) It has been recognized that in order for the CfAO to have an impact in AO component development a goal by the end of Year 10 (the “sunset” year) should be to successfully demonstrate two key components: a MEMS deformable mirror and a pulsed guidestar laser. As a result, in Year 7, we directed our component development funding more strongly towards a few approaches, those which have shown the most progress and promise with CfAO funding so far. In a sense, this is a technology downselect with the goal now being to complete demonstrations of feasible technologies rather than to fund a wide variety of new approaches. The top level of the roadmap is shown in Figure II.1. This report reflects the progress of projects during Year 7, the first year under this new emphasis for Theme 2. Figure II.1: Roadmap for AO for Extremely Large

Year 7 Results

MEMS Deformable Mirror Development Small, low cost deformable mirrors enable greatly expanded flexibility in the design of AO systems, particularly for the extremely large telescopes where ambitious demands on AO imaging performance are leading to more complex design concepts. The MOAO concept for example has one DM per science object and possibly one per laser and natural guidestar, placing a premium on cost and small size of deformable mirrors. Furthermore, the electrostatic actuation method used in MEMS devices provides much more predictable and repeatable actuation than the piezo actuators used in conventional DMs. This enables open-loop “go-to” operation, which is central to the MOAO concept. MEMS devices promise to scale to large numbers of actuators with much lower cost than conventional technologies, and these devices will be smaller and more precise, making them an ideal choice for high contrast extreme adaptive optics systems. For similar reasons they are attractive for applications in vision science and to the commercial ophthalmology market. CfAO funded four projects developing MEMS technology in Year 7, two in Theme 2 and two in Theme 4 (Vision Science).

4 MOAO = Multi Object Adaptive Optics

− − 24 MEMS Consortium for TMT and Gemini ExAOC The CfAO for a number of years has funded the development of technology for MEMS deformable mirror devices for application in both astronomical and vision science adaptive optics systems. Much of the CfAO effort in Theme 2 has been focused on the development of AO technology for the envisioned giant telescopes of the future. Theme 3 has as its charter the design of an extreme adaptive optics planet finder instrument. MEMS technology has matured to the point where it is feasible to start the design and fabrication of a MEMS deformable mirror that can be used in adaptive optics systems for 30 meter class telescopes and on 8-10 meter class telescope extreme adaptive optics systems. The CfAO has joined a consortium of users to build a MEMS DM usable for both of these kinds of systems within a two year time frame. The consortium consists of the Thirty Meter Telescope project (UC, Caltech, AURA, and CNRC partnership), the UCO/Lick Observatory Laboratory for Adaptive Optics, and the Gemini Observatory. The consortium agreed on a set of requirements for the DM so that a MEMS manufacturer can focus its efforts on these using the most promising and mature approach (see Table II.1). There have been a number of workshops and meetings designed for astronomers and adaptive optics system designers to work out with MEMS manufactures a feasible set of specifications for deformable mirrors. These meetings include:
CfAO MEMS workshop at SPIE Photonics West, January, 2003
CfAO MEMS workshop at UCSC, August, 2004
TMT Deformable Mirror Manufacturers Briefing, January, 2005 In April, 2005, we requested White Papers from two MEMS manufacturers, Boston Micromachines Corporation (BMC) and Microassembly Technologies (MAT) to outline the approach and make a rough order of magnitude estimate on time and cost to build a 10,000 element deformable mirror for TMT. In the same time frame, Bruce Macintosh who is leading the Gemini Planet Imager project, requested a firm quotation from BMC for a 4,000 element ExAO deformable mirror. After review, BMC was selected as the manufacturer with the more mature technology, and the consortium decided to pursue this path exclusively. MAT, which had a promising but not as mature approach, was encouraged to propose separately for their process development effort.* The intent of this effort is to clearly demonstrate in a one year time frame the actuator technology and the means of scaling to the necessary size and number of actuators for TMT and Gemini. Within a two year time frame full size devices that can be used for TMT and Gemini adaptive optics applications will be delivered. Over the course of this effort, engineering grade devices will be delivered to the UCSC Laboratory for Adaptive Optics for testing in the adaptive optics testbeds. Table II.1 Deformable Mirror Requirements a. TMT mirror: Clear aperture 40-60 mm Number of actuators 100x100 Piston stroke range 3 microns surface required, 5 microns preferred Closed loop bandwidth >100 Hz First resonance >1000 Hz Go-to accuracy open loop <10 nm Surface quality <10 nm rms

* MAT’s submittal to CfAO was rejected. However, in 2005, MAT with the UCO/Lick Laboratory for Adaptive Optics as a university partner, did successfully propose for a Small Business Innovative Technology grant to fund Phase 1 development of their technology.

− − 25 Reflective surface coating Gold or silver Operating temperature As low as -30 degrees Celsius Yield 99% of actuators working to full specification

b. ExAOC mirror: Clear aperture 20-30 mm Number of actuators 64x64 Piston stroke range 3 microns surface required Closed loop bandwidth >100 Hz First resonance >1000 Hz Go-to accuracy open loop <10 nm Surface quality <10 nm rms Reflective surface coating Gold or silver Operating temperature As low as -30 degrees Celsius Yield 100% of actuators working to full specification within some 48 actuator diameter circle

Technology Approach The 4 micron stroke actuator design that has been developed for the Rochester vision AO system (developed under prior CfAO Theme 4 funding) would be the design of choice for meeting both TMT and ExAO requirements. BMC believes that they can reach the high actuator count with this design and produce a device meeting all the above requirements within two years. There are three main engineering challenges to constructing these DMs: meeting the high stroke requirement, electrical connection to a large number of actuators, and fabrication at high actuator yield (particularly for ExAOC).

High Stroke As part of a Year 6 CfAO effort in Theme 4, BMC has developed a four micron stroke device and has a path to a 6 micron stroke capability. The actuator uses a deep etch (7 microns) to define the gap between actuator membrane and the electrode beneath it. It also involves removing material from the back of the membrane in order to reduce its spring tension, allowing greater actuation with lower electrostatic force. These techniques have been proven on a 100 actuator device delivered to the University of Rochester.

Large Number of Actuators The UCO/Lick Observatory Laboratory for Adaptive Optics funded BMC last year to do a design study on interconnecting a 4000 actuator device. The present 1000 element devices delivered commercially by BMC use on-chip single layer wire routing to bring lines from actuator electrodes to wire bond pads on the perimeter of the device. Scaling to 4,000-10,000 element devices will require multiple layer wire routing, called “buried-wire layer” interconnect. Test devices with the buried wire layer are presently coming out of the foundry. Buried wire layer is a standard technique in the IC industry for standard voltages; the new aspect for BMC was the need to follow design rules for 200 volt lines. Initial tests show that this method is working out well.

Actuator Yield Presently delivered devices show above 99% working actuators. This is probably sufficient for general purpose AO applications although higher yield is of course preferable. ExAOC has a very tight scattered light limitation and so demands 100% working actuators over the pupil. In the current ExAOC design, the pupil has a 48 actuator diameter footprint, so a device with 4,960

− − 26 actuators (64 across) has potential selection areas. Statistical analysis shows than an overall dead actuator rate of approximately 0.25% may be tolerable for a reasonable chance at finding a clear aperture. The LAO is working intently with BMC to improve its actuator yield, and they have made substantial improvement over the past year by adjusting tolerances in the fabrication process.

Consortium Schedule The consortium plan is to complete the project in three phases of development: Phase 1: Fabrication and testing of actuator prototypes to converge on a suitable design for the TMT/ExAO mirror. Also, fabrication and performance testing of buried wire layers. Contract: $260K from the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics Phase 2: Prototype manufacture of 4,096 actuator devices, with testing for yield and overall performance. Contract: $250K from CfAO Theme 2 and $202K from Gemini Observatory. Phase 3: Commercial manufacture and packaging of a 4096 actuator device and delivery to the Gemini Planet Imager program. Also, design layout for a 10,000 actuator device to be offered to the Thirty Meter Telescope program. Contract: $402 K from Gemini Observatory. The original schedule is shown in Figure II.2

Figure II.2. Original schedule for MEMS consortium deliverables.

Progress to Date Boston Micromachines began Phase 1 in October 2005 and is still in Phase 1 due to a partially failed foundry run in January. The problems in the first foundry run were entirely due to the foundry subcontractor who agreed to repeat the run for zero cost. As a result, the schedule has slipped to where we now expect completion of Phase 1 to be at the end of August, 2006. Now nearly completed with Phase 1, BMC has produced successful prototypes of 4 micron stroke actuators and tests of buried wire layer routing (actuator test results are shown in Figure II.4). They also fabricated a 4,096 actuator test device in a November, 2005 foundry run using the 2 micron stroke actuator in order to demonstrate fabricability of high Figure II.3. Prototype 4,096 actuator device. Actuator yield and flatness tests are in progress. actuator count devices, measure actuator yield, and test control of internal stresses in the top mirror surface to assure flatness (Figure II.3).

Since CfAO only allocated funds for Phase 2, which has now slipped its start date, the CfAO Year 7 grant funding has yet to be spent. The revised schedule still has this occurring within CfAO Year 7, in September, 2006.

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Figure II.4. Test results of various designs for prototype 4 micron stroke actuators. The selection of final actuator design will be a trade off between voltage deflection response and fabrication feature print-through, which affects the smoothness of the top mirror surface.

Sodium Guidestar Laser Development CfAO funded two laser guidestar development efforts in Year 7: the CW fiber laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Q-switched laser at Palomar Observatory. Both lasers have achieved important milestones this year, however we are behind in our original schedule to have these at 10 W and packaged for observatory operation by 2006. The LLNL laser has achieved 3.5 Watts in the lab and is expecting 10 Watts in lab tests this month (August 2006). A rebaselined plan for this laser has it mounted at the Lick observatory at the end of 2007. The Palomar laser has projected 4 Watts in on-sky tests and just last month (July 2006) closed the loop on its adaptive optics system using the sodium laser guidestar.

LLNL Laser Development LLNL is developing a versatile laser technology based on laser diode-pumped fiber lasers which are sum-frequency mixed in periodically poled materials to provide 589 nm light for LGSAO. This technology would provide a compact, efficient, robust, turnkey laser source required for the multiple beacon AO systems proposed for ELTs. The goal is to produce a 5-10 W fiber laser system at 589 nm. To date the team has demonstrated their prototype fiber laser at 2.7 W in continuous wave (CW) mode, suitable for a single LGS on a 3 - 10 m telescope, and at 3.5 W in a pulsed format for mitigation of spot elongation with support from the NSF Adaptive Optics Development Program (AODP). In Year 7 we dovetailed the CfAO and AODP programs, focusing on a 10 W pulsed laser as this best supports both our technical goals and the new priorities for Theme 2 established in Year 6. Next generation laser systems must also be sufficiently reliable to enable routine operation in remote, somewhat hostile, observatory environments. Prototyping and experience are needed for

− − 28 low-cost, reliable, properly qualified laser systems, laser beam handling and launch. As the technologies mature, the LLNL team will field-harden and engineer the components, enabling a field-hardened, automated prototype for deployment on a suitable telescope. LLNL is partnering with UCO Lick staff to develop a proposal for deployment of the fiber laser at Lick Observatory in a visible LGSAO demonstration in Years 9/10. The 589 nm laser system, shown in Fig. II.5, is based on sum-frequency mixing an Er/Yb:doped fiber laser (EDFA) operating at 1583 nm with a 938 nm Nd:doped silica fiber laser (NDFA) in a periodically poled (PP) nonlinear crystal to generate 589 nm. Other solid state lasers currently under development generate 589 nm light by sum- frequency mixing Nd:YAG Figure II.5: Block diagram of the 589 nm laser system. The laser lasers operating at 1319 nm and mixes two high power infrared fiber laser outputs in a periodically 1064 nm, with the challenge poled material (sum frequency generator) to produce 589 nm being the 1319 nm laser. Since light. Each of the infrared lasers uses cladding-pumped fiber there are presently no efficient amplifiers: a Nd:doped fiber amplifier (NDFA) for the 938 nm fiber lasers in the 1300 nm wavelength, and an Er:doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) for the 1583 wavelength band, this nm wavelength. combination is not an option for fiber lasers. This year the LLNL team demonstrated 3.5 W at 589 nm with a 20% duty cycle using periodically poled stoichiometric lithium tantalate (PPLST), which was provided by Stanford University under a development contract funded by CfAO.

Progress and Problems to Date For laser guidestars on extremely large telescopes, the format of choice is < 5 μs pulse width at ~ 5-15 kHz pulse rate, which is nominally a 10% duty cycle. The pulse format of the LLNL fiber laser design is completely programmable by connecting a function generator to the amplitude modulators and will accommodate duty cycles as low as 1%. During each pulse, the lasing is CW, which is optimal for coupling to the mesospheric sodium atom. At 15 W average power at 938 nm and a duty cycle of 1%, the fiber amplifier must be able to produce 1500 W of peak power without exceeding the SBS threshold. The 1583 nm laser has a lower required average power and thus need only accommodate 1000 W of peak power. The SBS threshold for a given peak output power in a fiber amplifier is a function of the amplifier gain, the length of the amplifier, the core size of the fiber and the bandwidth of the signal. To suppress SBS for the pulsed laser, LLNL developed an “air-clad” pump core in which a ring of closely spaced holes connect the inner pump cladding to the outer glass cladding of the fiber to achieve a high numerical aperture (NA) inner cladding in what is effectively an all-glass structure. The hollow-clad fiber was purchased under AODP funding last year. As the team developed new handling and mounting techniques for this fiber, they determined that these techniques also mitigated the problems they had experienced with the earlier design 30 mm solid core fiber. They are currently in the process of constructing a third amplifier from this fiber to provide additional 938 nm power consistent with the level now available from the 1583 nm system, which will enable them to meet the 10 W power goal this year. LLNL has made significant progress in identifying issues/solutions to enable a commercial, engineered 938 nm amplifier package, and they are working with the Nufern Corporation to do

− − 29 so. They integrated and tested tapered pump combiners. They are also obtained replacement oscillator and amplifier components that improve the stability and performance of the 938 nm system. In the future, LLNL should be able to purchase a packaged amplifier from Nufern. The final key technology for the fiber laser system is sum-frequency generation in a nonlinear crystal to generate 589 nm. It is desirable to use periodically poled (PP) materials for sum- frequency mixing, as their high nonlinear coefficients allow efficient mixing of the CW beams external to the laser cavity. However, these devices have many material issues, predominant among them being rapid degradation at the power densities needed to achieve efficient frequency conversion to the visible region of the spectrum. They tested three PP materials - lithium niobate (PPLN), potassium trihydrogen phosphate (PPKTP) and stoichiometric lithium tantalate (PPSLT). PPLN was found to be unacceptable for this application, as it suffers from photo- refractive damage and green induced infrared absorption (GRIIRA) at visible power levels as low as 100 mW. PPKTP can handle significantly more power at conversion efficiencies of up to 20% before the onset of significant degradation. Year 6 measurements indicate that the damage threshold for PPKTP is ~ 10-13 kW/cm2 at 532 nm, while the damage threshold at 589 nm was as high as 40 kW/cm2. This indicates PPKTP is a factor of 5 better at 589 nm than 532 nm in terms of reliability. In addition, conversion efficiency and damage threshold both increase with the use of a pulsed format, further reason to shift the research focus to pulsed laser formats. The model also suggests that better materials, such as PPSLT being developed by Stanford University and Physical Sciences Inc., would have significantly higher reliability and permit the creation of efficient visible frequency conversion devices. Recent studies at Stanford University and elsewhere on SLT have revealed remarkably lower levels of photorefraction and GRIIRA. Thus, PPSLT appears promising for efficient, high power frequency converters at or near room temperature. In Year 6 CfAO funded Stanford University to produce PPSLT for LGS applications. We received a preliminary crystal and evaluated its performance with Stanford graduate student, David Hum. The crystal had a conversion efficiency similarly to PPKTP, producing 1.4 W at 589 nm in recent tests. We are also collaborating with Dr. Doug Bamford of Physical Sciences, Inc. (PSI), who was funded by the USAF to develop PPSLT commercially. Coherent Technologies, Inc., recently demonstrated 14 W at 589 nm in a PSI PPSLT crystal, though the output power was observed to decrease gradually over time. PSI is working to identify a solution to this issue. Since we have crystals from both PSI and Stanford, which are made by different manufacturing processes, we plan to test each crystal over time in Y7 to determine if the degradation is related to the manufacturing process. LLNL began sum-frequency mixing experiments in Year 4 at low power, demonstrating 0.03 W of 589 nm as a proof-of-concept. They demonstrated 0.5 W in Year 6 and 2.7 W in Year 7, both in PPKTP. Both of these results utilized a CW pulse format, and corresponded to ~ 15% conversion efficiency. An operating nonlinear conversion efficiency of > 40% is desirable, but the power was limited by the damage threshold of PPKTP. Use of a pulsed laser format increases the peak power in the crystal, thereby increasing the conversion efficiency. LLNL therefore converted their system to operate at a 20% duty cycle at 100 kHz and have now demonstrated 3.5 W at 589 nm. This measurement was limited by the power available at 1583 nm due to the competing wavelength at 1565 nm (discussed later), hence their emphasis on upgrading the original EDFA components in Year 7. With additional power at both 938 nm and 1583 nm, LLNL expects to reach their milestone of 5-10 W at 589 nm this year. To date LLNL has accomplished the following towards making a viable 589 nm laser source for guide star applications.
Demonstrated 3.5 W at 589 nm with a 20% duty cycle
Understood the design of NDFA amplifiers at 938 nm and constructed a scalable 15 W prototype 938 nm fiber laser
Understood the design of EDFA amplifiers at 1583 nm and constructed a 14 W prototype 1583 nm fiber laser that can be operated in the pulse formats being considered for ELTs

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Completed a preliminary system design and cost estimate for a deployable system
Assessed power scaling for the CW temporal format
Assessed the capability for producing pulsed temporal formats

Figure II.6: Prototype 589 nm fiber laser in lab. Image of beam in sodium cell used to verify 589 nm wavelength.

Palomar Laser Development Ed Kibblewhite from the University of Chicago has fielded and tested a sum frequency mode- locked laser at the Caltech Optical Observatory’s Palomar telescope. They report it propagated 4 Watts on the sky and that they recently (June 2006) closed the laser guidestar adaptive optics control loop on the laser beacon and obtained a measurable improvement in the point spread function of a field star. A number of practical problems associated with the laser launch system rather than the laser itself have slowed down progress toward commissioning this system for science observing. The successful achievement of closed loop operation is a major milestone however. Plans for the coming year include:
Adding gain modules to increase the output power to 20 Watts
Automating the frequency control and improving the beam diagnostics systems
Replacement of the launch telescope primary (the spare optic used initially was discovered to have a crack in it!)
Improvements to the beam tracking and transport system to assure a stable launch platform for the laser Most of the above work was funded by Caltech and other funding sources. CfAO funding in Year 7 was solely applied to Professor Kibblewhite’s activities at Palomar.

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Figure II.7. Chicago sum frequency sodium laser projecting from the dome of the Mt. Palomar 5 meter Hale telescope, June 14, 2006.

Astronomical Science Observing Using AO Theme 2 sponsors astronomical observing programs where the scientific conclusions are dependent upon the high resolution and contrast afforded by adaptive optics. Four such programs were supported in Year 7: the CfAO treasury survey, a large collaborative program for cataloging galaxies in the early Universe led by C. Max and D. Koo (UCSC); observing active cores of galaxies, led by C. Max (UCSC), observations of planets, moons, and rings within our Solar System, led by I. de Pater (UCB); and tracking the motion of stars near the massive black hole at the center of our Galaxy, led by A. Ghez (UCLA).

CfAO Treasury Survey CfAO researchers are using adaptive optics at three 8-10m class telescopes to observe a large, deep sample of galaxies in the early universe with the goals of 1) observing the assembly of galaxies from smaller subunits to larger ones like our own Milky Way, 2) measuring the rates of star formation and the evolution in stellar populations, 3) discovering the highest redshift supernovae, and 4) characterizing central active galactic nuclei (AGNs) throughout the past 10-12 Billion years. CATS will disseminate an archive of the most up-to-date AO data and associated reduction and analysis tools, as a community resource to aid investigators study some of the most complex and perplexing problems in current cosmology. The intnt is to fund CATS for the last five years of CfAO, and to focus on the largest Hubble Space Telescope (HST) fields designed for faint galaxy surveys. These presently include two GOODS (Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey) fields (N and S), the GEMS field (extension of GOODS-S), COSMOS (an equatorial field near 0230-04), and one of the four DEEP fields known as the Extended Groth Strip (northern field near 1415+52). These regions of the sky are under intensive study by the world's most powerful ground and space telescopes, which span the range of energies from radio to X-rays. All are expected to produce their deepest images ever.

− − 32 CATs however, will provide near-infrared images, a critical missing wavelength range, at a resolution (0.05 arcsec) comparable to the optical diffraction limit of HST. The near-IR is particularly valuable because it penetrates dust obscured regions, is sensitive to old stars, and, for high redshift objects measures light that was emitted as visible photons, allowing direct comparisons to extensive optical studies of local galaxies. It is anticipated that the CATS program will utilize many of Keck, Gemini, and Subaru nights, with significant repeat observations to reach fainter limits, gain larger fields of view, and detect variable AGN and supernovae. Measurements of kinematics and spectra at high spatial resolution in the near-IR began late in CfAO Year 7 with the OSIRIS integral field spectrograph (led by co-PI Larkin) on the Keck Telescope. From fall 03 through spring 05, the CATS team was awarded 10.5 nights of Keck natural guide star AO time and 4.5 nights at Keck for spectroscopic follow-up. In fall 04 and spring 05 the team was awarded a night of laser guide star (LGS) AO time on Keck, from which a paper in ApJ Letters has been accepted for publication. Most importantly, the team was awarded 4.5 nights of Keck laser guide star AO time for fall 05, representing 45% of the total UC allocation of LGS AO time. In spring 2003, with the concurrence of the then Director of Keck Observatory, CfAO initiated a plan to obtain non-AO optical redshift data in the GOODS-North field; these data were released to the astronomical community in 2004. STScI has agreed to collaborate in developing a CATS public archive and database. A science paper based on laser guide star AO data collected in Oct 04 is in press (Ap J Letters.}

Fig. II.8. An example of CATS data: This NIRC2 image is an hour exposure taken in Mar 2005 with the Keck laesr guide star AO system. The field is located in the Extended Groth Strip where HST ACS and NICMOS-3 images exist. The right hand panel is a blow-up of one galaxy and shows the superior spatial resolution in the near-IR achievable with the Keck AO system (resolution of 0.05 arcsec) compared to the HST NICMOS-3 image (spatial resolution of ~0.20 arcsec). Such AO resolutions allow unique Current technical challenges and status. studies of small subcomponents within distant galaxies, such as bulges (see example below the marked galaxy), bars, AGNs, and Keck laser guide star system: supernovae.

Discounting the time lost due to weather conditions, the laser guide star “up-time” at Keck confirms that the system works quite well. However there is always the risk of laser failure resulting in lost observing time. Unfortunately we have not received as much laser guide star AO time on Keck II as had originally been anticipated. Consequently we are planning to develop and sumit a LMAP observing proposal at Keck. Such proposals involve large projects extending over several years and under UC rules are reviewed accordingly. By Year 9 of the CfAO, the astronomy community will benefit from having a new laser guide star system on the Keck I telescope, enabling both Kecks to operate with laser guide star AO.

− − 33 PSF Characterization: This is a challenge for both NGS and LGS AO. The observing procedures developed by the CATS team appear to work well. A recent development has been the successful characterization by M. Britton of isoplanatism using information from seeing monitors such as DIMMs and we more testing of this approach is planned in Year 8.

Galaxy Activity and Evolution The CfAO studied the nuclear regions of nearby active galaxies. This project has two parts. The first is to compare the nuclei of active galaxies with those of their quiescent counterparts, to address whether we can observe systematic differences between them such as bulge profiles and sizes, inner spiral structure, and inner bars. UCSC grad student Lynne Raschke used laser guide star adaptive optics at Lick Observatory and data from the Hubble Archive to study this. Where possible laser guide star targets were chosen that also have HST WFPC2 images and STIS spectra. In addition to the general survey one of our target galaxies, IC 342, was studied more intensively. In the second part, Max and UCSC grad student Lindsey Pollack studied NGC 6240, a pair of AGNs (massive disk galaxies) that are in the midst of a merger. Ewo specific questions were answered: a) where are the two black holes in our high-resolution images, which contain a great deal of substructure? and b) what are the ages and masses of the unresolved circumnuclear star clusters in the core of the merger?

Nearby AGNs with the Lick laser guide star Raschke’s PhD Thesis (soon to be completed) consists of two elements: results from the survey of nearby AGNs and normal galaxies, and a detailed analysis of the circum-nuclear and nuclear star clusters in one galaxy, IC 342. IC 342, a nearby2, face-on giant Scd spiral. is a prime example of a late-type spiral galaxy with an enhanced star formation rate and a young luminous nuclear star cluster that, previous authors have maintained, formed in a short-lived burst 107 – 108 years ago (Böker, Förster-Schreiber, & Genzel 1997; Böker, van der Marel, & Vacca 1999). Molecular gas has been observed in non- circular motion near the nucleus, with streaming motions toward the kinematic center of the galaxy (Schinnerer, Böker and Meier 2003); previous investigators have hypothesized that it is this gas which is feeding the current intense star formation episode.

Figure II.9: Lick laser guide star AO Ks image of the nucleus of IC 342 (19 minute exposure). Figure II.10: HST F555W (visible-light) image The black bar indicates one arc second. The color of the nucleus of IC 342 (8.7 minute exposure). stretch was chosen so that the point-like nuclear Green bar indicates one arc second. cluster can be clearly seen.

− − 34 In addition to the nuclear star cluster, one can see numerous circum-nuclear star clusters in HST visible-light images and in Lick LGS Ks band images (Figures II.9 and II.10). Raschke analyzed the stellar populations in the circum-nuclear star clusters using Bruzual-Charlot population synthesis models; the clusters are young. Raschke is currently comparing the circum-nuclear clusters with the nuclear star cluster studied by Böker, van der Marel, & Vacca (1999). This task has proven to be harder than anticipated because the HST data are saturated. A paper on the circum-nuclear star clusters is in draft form and will be submitted to a journal prior to the end of Year 7

Black holes and star formation in the nearby merger NGC 6240 NGC 6240 is an ongoing merger between two gas-rich disk galaxies. The collision of interstellar gas in the two galaxies causes intense star formation, as witnessed by an infrared luminosity LIR ~ 1011.8 Lsun due to heating of dust by embedded young massive stars. The outer parts of the two colliding galaxies are tidally distorted (Figure II.11, from Hubble Space Telescope). The central core has two distinct sub- nuclei, presumably one from each disk galaxy, when observed in optical or infrared light (Figure 8, from Keck AO). NGC 62403 has long been known as an AGN. It is classified as mid- way between a Seyfert 2 AGN and a LINER, and has been seen by Figure II.12. Keck AO image of the dual nuclei of NGC 6240 Chandra (Komossa et al. 2003) to Figure II.11. HST image in K’ band. Green bar is one arc contain two black holes, one from of NGC 6240. Orange is second long (470 pc). each of the colliding galaxies. H . In Year 7 two key issues regarding NGC 6240 were addressed: 1) Exactly where in Figure II.12 are Figure II.13. Keck AO K’-band the two black holes? and 2) How image of the dual nuclei of NGC old are the nuclear star clusters? 6240 (color), together with 5-GHz Figure II.13 shows a re-stretched radio contours (white) from version of the nuclear regions that nonthermal emission close to the black holes. North is up and east is were shown in linear scale in to the left. The north black hole Figure II.12 to highlight the nuclear coincides with a K’ band point point sources and potential source, while the south black hole positions of the black holes. does not. Superimposed on the K’ band image are white contours

corresponding to the positions of the two 5-GHz non-thermal radio sources identified by Beswick et al. (2001) with the black hole positions. The north black hole lies at the position of an unresolved K’-band point source, whereas the south black hole lies just to the north of a K’-band point source in the most heavily obscured part of the AGN. This position identification was confirmed by referring the determined astrometric positions to a Keck AO L’ band image (3.8 microns), which is less heavily obscured by dust than K’ band (2.2 microns). This work is being submitted to Science Magazine. Detailed work on the ages and masses of the star clusters seen in Figure II.12 is under way. This is grad student Lindsey Pollack’s “second-year project” at UCSC. Hubble and Keck AO colors of

− − 35 the star clusters are being used to compare with population-synthesis models. A paper will be completed by the fall of 2006. In Year 7 we will have completed three journal articles based on our CfAO work. Solar System planetary science (de Pater, Berkeley) Over the past years, the team led by I. de Pater acquired data with several of the currently available AO systems (on Keck, VLT, Gemini, Lick, and ESO-3.6 m) using different observing modes (imaging in narrow band filters, spectroscopy, and LGS imaging) on Titan, Neptune, Uranus, Io, Jupiter's ring and Callisto, binary asteroids and transneptunian objects (TNO). In addition to their scientific value, the images have tremendous public appeal. Results are being used for educational and public outreach, giving the CfAO broad visibility. The observations of Titan provide infrared maps of the 3-dimensional distribution of haze in Titan's atmosphere, as well as its surface albedos and the presence of tropospheric clouds, addressing questions regarding seasonal variations in Titan's atmosphere and the composition of its surface (are there liquid hydrocarbons?). The em observed Titan with NIRC2 on Keck on Jan. 14–Jan. 17, 2005, during the Huygens probe descent into Titan’s atmosphere. During the probe entry night not much data was acquired because of instrument and weather problems and no probe entry signal was detected. On Jan. 15 – 17 a series of broad– and narrow-band images were obtained, and several image data cubes by stepping the spectroscopy slit across the satellite. The AIDA deconvolution technique was applied to all images obtained on Jan. 15 (Fig. II.16). The results of this Huygens probe entry campaign have been published by de Pater et al. (2006a). A highlight and puzzling result of this paper is the clear detection of an East-West asymmetry in Titan’s stratosphere, where, contrary to expectations, the east limb of Titan often appears to be brighter than the west limb, even if the Sun illuminates the west side. This implies a ~10% enhancement in the stratospheric haze density in the morning, suggestive of perhaps condensation at night (but why? This is in the stratosphere), as first postulated by Coustenis et al. (2001). This result was made possible by combining the “de Pater team” Keck data with images obtained by team Keck, M. Brown, H. Roe, A. Bouchez and E. Young. Use was also made of all of H. Roe’s Gemini data in this analysis. Io is extremely active volcanically: each observation in our Keck AO monitoring program reveals surprisingly different surface features, due to new volcanic eruptions. Images of Uranus' atmosphere and ring system are among the best ever taken. These include a sheet of material interior to the known rings, which coincides with the ring 1986 U 2R, seen only once before in a Voyager forward-scattered image. Cloud features in Uranus' northern hemisphere (just emerging from a decades-long darkness) suggest the beginnings of a polar collar, similar to the collar in the south. By tracking individual cloud features on Neptune, unique and puzzling atmospheric circulation conditions have been discovered. The impressive images of Neptune's ring-arc system document its continuing change since the Voyager era, and improvements have been made to Neptune's satellite ephemerides based on the astrometric analysis of recent AO images. The de Pater team observed a multitude of asteroids and Trans-Neptunian Objects in itsr search for binary systems with a variety of telescopes/AO systems. This included the first ever triple asteroid system, a discovery that will trigger renewed observational campaigns and theoretical studies to explain such systems. They further made a detailed comparison for several asteroids between the shape of an asteroid as derived from AO and conventional lightcurve data.

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Fig. II.14. 130 Elektra observed with the Keck AO system in K band [left]. Elektra is quite irregular in shape, with a non-uniform albedo. On the right we show its shape as derived from lightcurve inversion techniques. (Marchis et al 2005a)

Fig. II.15 First Triple Asteroid ever Discovered. The dashed lines correspond to the orbits of the two moonlets. This image is a composite of 9 individual observations taken on 9 nights and high-pass filtered via the "unsharp masking" technique. North is up and East is left. The inset shows the asteroid’s primary shape after deconvolution. (Marchis et al 2005c)

Fig. II.16. Images of Titan’s surface during and following the descent of the Huygens probe. An arrow indicates the landing site of the probe. The images on Jan. 15 were taken through narrow band filters (near 1.6 and 2.0 micron) which probe Titan’s surface. These images were deconvolved with AIDA. The lower panels show a Cassini image from Oct. 26, 2004. On the left is a composite image, with the colors corresponding to the wavelengths as indicated. A large cloud complex is seen in the south, which was not visible during the probe landing. The landing site is enlarged in the inset. On the right the field of view of the probe is shown by the circles, while descending.

− − 37 Fig. II.17 a - c) Keck AO image of Uranus at 2.2 micron, after combining all data from July 3-9 2004. The entire image is shown in panel a; panels b and c show the north and south ansae, respectively. The individual ringlets are indicated; the inner ring is 1986 U 2R. (de Pater et al 2005a). d) A single image in H and K’ band, revealing a S. hemisphere feature in K’ (circled), indicative of vigorous convection, as well.as a string of features in the north (H-band). P = moon Portia (Hammel et al. 2004b)

Fig. II.18 a) Average image of the 03 October 2003 data (2.12 micron, 30 min. total integration time), revealing satellites, ring arcs and the complete Adams and Le Verrier rings. The images have been high-pass filtered to remove scattered light. A 1-minute exposure of Neptune itself is shown in the insert. (de Pater et al. 2005b) b) Longitudinal scans through the ring arcs as seen by Keck, Voyager (1989) and NICMOS (1998). The Keck and Voyager profiles were smoothed to a resolution of 3deg. All intensities are scaled to that of Fraternite. c) Motion of a cloud feature on Neptune in longitude and latitude relative to its average speed, as determined from images taken in August 2001.

Massive black hole at the center of our Galaxy (Ghez at UCLA) The center of our Milky Way Galaxy is now known to contain a black hole with more than three million solar masses, and thus represents a nearby opportunity for studying the physics and astrophysics of black holes in galaxy cores. Technically, the Galactic Center presents challenges that range from observational, due to the lack of a bright natural guide star at optical wavelengths, to analytical, due to the crowded stellar field at near-infrared wavelengths. Consequently the Ghez team is studying Adaptive Optics performance on this field with a variety of different systems (Keck vs. Gemini; NGS vs. LGS) from the point of view of point spread function quality, overall Strehl, stability, and anisoplanatism. In addition they are investigating the astrometric and spectroscopic accuracies that can be achieved in such a crowded stellar field. These results will be applicable to a number of different applications and are of large interest to the general CfAO community. Astronomically, they are studying the environment of the Galaxy's central supermassive black hole to measure the dynamics, distribution, and properties of the stars in the central stellar cluster.

− − 38 Spectroscopy and imaging allowed them to obtain the most accurate and precise estimate of the distance to the Galactic Center, to constrain the dark mass distribution at smaller radii than ever before (with special focus on what might surround the central black hole), to improve studies of possible counterparts to Sgr A* (the radio source at the location of the black hole) at near-infrared wavelengths, and to resolve the paradox of apparently young stars in an environment that is currently quite hostile to star formation, given the strong tidal forces presented by the black hole and the low gas densities. In Year 5 they discovered a variable point source, imaged in the L' band (wavelength 3.8 m) with the Keck II telescope's adaptive optics system, that is coincident to within 18 mas (1 σ) of the Galaxy's central supermassive black hole and the unique radio source Sgr A*. See Figure II.19. While in 2002 this source (SgrA*-IR) was confused with the stellar source S0-2, the two sources were shown to be separated by 87 mas in 2003. This enabled the new source's properties to be determined directly. On four separate nights, its observed L' magnitude ranged from 12.2 to 13.8, which corresponds to a dereddened flux density of 4- 17 mJy; no other source in this region shows such large variations in flux density – a factor over a week and a factor of 2 over 40 min.

Figure II.19. Three images at 3.8 micron wavelength of the infrared counterpart of SgrA*, at the presumed location of the black hole in the core of the Milky Way Galaxy. Each image is about 0.6 arc sec on a side.

In addition, it has a (K-L') color greater than 2.1, which is at least 1 magnitude redder than any other source detected at L' in its vicinity. Based on this source's coincidence with the Galaxy's dynamical center, its lack of motion, its variability, and its red color, we concluded that it is associated with the central supermassive black hole. The short timescale for the 3.8 m flux density variations implies that the emission arises quite close to the black hole, within 5 AU, or 80 Schwarzschild radii. We suggest that both the variable 3.8 m emission and the X-ray flares arise from the same underlying physical process, possibly the acceleration of a small population of electrons to ultrarelativistic energies. In contrast to the X-ray flares which are only detectable ~2% of the time, the 3.8 m emission provides a new, constantly accessible, window into the physical conditions of the plasma in close proximity to the central black hole.

Figure II.20: A comparison of the first LGS-AO image (left) and the best NGS-AO image (right) taken with the W. M. Keck II 10 m telescope in the L'(3.8
m) photometric bandpass of the central 7.005£7.005 of our Galaxy. In both images, the cross denotes the location of the central supermassive black hole and the orientation is North up and East to the left. The LGS- AO image has a Strehl ratio

that is a factor of two higher than that obtained in the NGS-AO image; furthermore, the LGS-AO image resulted from an exposure time of only 8 min, a factor of ~20 less than the comparison NGS-AO image. The LGS-AO system has therefore dramatically improved the image quality that can be obtained on the Galactic Center with the Keck telescope. Without AO the crucial stars that are used to reveal and study the central supermassive black hole are not even detectable.

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Photometry of all the sources detected at L' in maps obtained at Keck during four separate observing runs has been carried out, along with photometry in high angular resolution maps in the K-band (Keck) and H-band (Gemini- AO). These data have been combined in color-magnitude and color-color plots to derive extinction along the line of sight to the Galactic Center (slightly lower than previous estimates) and to identify high mass-loss rate stars. They have gone back to older AO images and carried out a complete re-analysis of all their existing data (improved frame selection, improved imaging weighting, and improved re- sampling). This analysis has yielded much more sensitive maps, and the discovery of a source near the location of the black hole in these older images. Within 0.4 arcsec of the Galaxy's central dark mass, hey identified 22 proper motion stars, with K magnitudes ranging from 13.9 to 17.7; 15 of these are new detections. In this sample, three newly identified (S0-16, S0-19, and S0-20) and five previously known (S0-1, S0-2, S0-3, S0-4, and S0-5) sources have measured proper motions that reveal orbital solutions around the black hole. A simultaneous orbital solution pinpoints the Galaxy's central compact dark mass to within ±1 milli-arcsec and, for the first time from orbital dynamics, limits its proper motion to 0.8 ± 0.7 mas/year. The estimated ± 6 3 central dark mass from orbital motions is (4.0 0.3) x 10 (R0/8kpc) M
. The smallest closest approach is achieved by the star S0-16, which confines the central compact dark mass to within a radius of a mere 90 AU and increases the infrared dark mass density by four orders of magnitude compared to earlier analyses based on velocity and acceleration vectors. These adaptive optics data make the Milky Way the strongest existing case by far for a supermassive black hole at the center of any normal type galaxy.

Figure II.21 Astrometric positions (only annual averages shown) and orbital fits for several stars within the central square arcsecond of the Galaxy, overlaid on a recent image. With multiple orbits, the central black hole's properties can be strongly constrained (position, velocity, and mass) and the ensemble kinematics of the cluster can be directly studied.

The Galactic Center is a difficult AO target: it is at high airmass as seen from the telescopes in Hawaii, and has no bright star nearby to use as a wavefront reference. They plan to explore the trade-offs between different natural guide stars, optical and infrared-wavefront sensing, and natural guide star vs. laser guide star AO operation. They will also explore a second type of trade-off, between integration time and point spread function (PSF) quality. Shorter exposures tend to produce higher Strehl final images, but are obtained much less efficiently, in terms of telescope time, than longer exposures. This trade-off affects the number of sources that are

− − 40 detectable, the photometric and astrometric accuracies for the detected point sources, as well as the sensitivity to extended structures. For instance, while deeper images increase the signal to noise ratio for the brightest stars and reveal fainter isolated point sources, the longer exposures have poorer image quality, affecting the ability to measure the faint stars that are nearby bright stars due to spill-over (larger halos) from the bright stars. Likewise, lower Strehl images are not as sensitive to extended structures. We have begun this type work by comparing the Keck and Gemini AO images which have very different exposure times and Strehls. A related and important component of their work is point spread function reconstruction. In a crowded field such as that of the Galactic Center, astrometric and photometric accuracies as well as sensitivities to faint point sources and extended structures are affected not only by the Strehl, but also by the ability to reconstruct the PSF. Collaboration between Julian Christou (UCSC) and Andrea Ghez (UCLA) is critical to the success of this aspect of the program. The current analysis of existing data shows that they are limited by their PSF reconstruction, and the collaborative work this past year dramatically increased their sensitivity to faint sources in the crowded central region and improved the astrometric precision on known sources. While the above work focuses on imaging, AO now allows spectra to be obtained as well. Therefore they plan to study the above trade-offs for spectroscopy with the additional parameter of spectral resolution to consider.

Progress report for Year 7 (Ghez UCLA) Milestone 1: Submit observing proposals to use the Keck AO systems to carry out proposed Year 6 work Proposal submitted and awarded time in May, July, and August 2005 to conduct LGS-AO Keck observations of the Galactic center.

Milestone 2: Conduct AO observations on Galactic Center in imaging and spectroscopic modes in Summer '05 Successful LGS-AO L' imaging and spectroscopic observations were conducted in May, June and July 2005. The images were the deepest and astrometrically most accurate obtained thus far. The spectra allowed the Ghez to measure stars other than S0-2 in the central square arcsecond around the black hole for the first time.

Milestone 3: Complete and make available maps of NIRC2's optical distortions Done.

Milestone 4: Publish paper on Sgr A* variability The Ghez team imaged Sgr A*-IR in the broadband filters H (1.6 mm), K' (2.1 mm), and L' (3.8 mm) every 3 minutes over the course of 120 minutes, during which time the Chandra X-ray Observatory was also monitoring the Galactic center. Complementary measurements of Sgr A*'s L'- and Ms (4.7 mm)-band flux densities were obtained on a separate night with the natural guide star AO system. During our observations, Sgr A*-IR's flux density shows a wide range of values (2 to 12 mJy at 2.1 mm), which are associated with at least 3 peaks in the infrared emission. However, all their near-infrared color measurements are consistent with a constant spectral slope a of a = -0.9 ± 0.5, where Fn / n . These results imply that a) the spectral slope is independent of the strength of Sgr A*-IR's emission, b) there is no spectral break in Sgr A*'s spectral energy distribution from 1.6 - 4.7 mm, and c) strong IR outbursts sometimes occur without any corresponding activity in the X-ray regime. Furthermore, none of their light curves show any significant evidence of periodicity or for the existence of a steady state flux level in the infrared. All together, these findings support the hypothesis that the IR emission is due to synchrotron emission from either a stochastically injected population of high-energy, thermal electrons or a broken power-law distribution of non-thermal electrons. In the context of previous coordinated

− − 41 observations that do posit simultaneous NIR/X-ray activity, these results suggest that either the infrared and X-ray activity are not related or that while the spectral index of Sgr A*-IR is constant throughout a flaring event, unrelated NIR flares may have different spectral indices, with flares showing simultaneous X-ray activity appearing redder than those without.

Milestone 5: Publish analysis of colors The Ghez team presents H(1.65 mm), K(2.2 mm) and L'(3.8 mm) photometry for 116 stars in the central ~6 by 7 arcsecond (~0.3 parsec) of the Galaxy based upon diffraction-limited images obtained at the W.M. Keck 10 m telescope and the Gemini North 8 m telescope. Using observed (H - K) and (K - L') colors and assumed intrinsic colors, they investigate the interstellar extinction with in their field and particularly within the innermost arcsecond around Sgr A*. For their entire sample they find that the average An=30.9 ±1.3. Within the inner arcsec of Sgr A* they derive an extinction of An =30.6 ±0.88. Using a nine year baseline in K-band, they find that 33% of their sample is variable. Four sources (IRS 16 SW-E, 21, 29N, and 29 NE) within their field have significant red color excess in (H - K) and (K - L'), which is most likely a result of circumstellar emission. Three known WN9 (IRS 16 NE, NW, C) sources agree well with previously derived H- K intrinsic color, and are used to derive an intrinsic color of K-L'=0.17. The distance to the foreground source Ir1 is derived to be ~4 kpc, with a spectral type earlier than an A-type star. They find that average extinction from 0 to 4 kpc is 2.5 mags per kpc, and from 4 to 8 kpc 5.2 -3 -3 mags per kpc, which yields a column density of nH <~ 16 cm and nH <~ 32 cm , respectively. Milestone 6: Publish Galactic Center distance paper The Ghez team reports a direct estimate of the distance to the Galactic Center, Ro, based on diffraction-limited astrometric and spectroscopic measurements from the W. M. Keck 10 m telescopes of stars orbiting the central supermassive black hole. The results of the orbital analysis imply that the central black hole has a mass of 3.6 (± 0.2) ´ 106 solar masses and is located at a distance of 7.2 ± 0.2 kpc. This estimate for Ro is significantly smaller than the IAU adopted value (8.5 kpc). In the context of current models of the Milky Way, their value for Ro suggests that the dark matter halo is close to spherical and is, therefore, unlikely to be composed of decaying massive neutrinos or a disk of cold molecular hydrogen.

Milestone 7: Publish proper motions for stars at larger radii The Ghez team presents new proper motions for the apparently massive, young stars at the Galactic Center, based on observations obtained with the Keck laser guide star-adaptive optics (LGS-AO) system. Their proper motion measurements now have uncertainties of only 1-2 km/s, thanks to the LGS-AO observations that have allowed them to retroactively increase the accuracy, by a factor of 10, and precision of over 10 years of speckle astrometry. With new proper motions, they explore the origin of these young stars, which is challenging given that the strong tidal forces of the supermassive black hole should suppress star formation. Their presence, however, may be explained either by star formation in an accretion disk or as the remnants of a massive stellar cluster which spiraled in via dynamical friction. Earlier stellar velocity vectors were used to postulate that all the young stars resided in two counter-rotating

Milestone 8: Complete a stellar variability analysis The Ghez team reports the results of a diffraction-limited, photometric variability study of the central 5"x5" of the Galaxy conducted over the past 10 years using speckle imaging techniques on the W.M. Keck I 10 m telescope. Within their limiting magnitude of K < 16 for maps made from a single night of data, they find a minimum of 26 variable stars out of 141 monitored stars. They see no evidence of flares or dimming of the 5 stars that have known 3-dimensional orbits in our study, which greatly limits the possibility of a cold geometrically thin inactive accretion disk around the supermassive black hole, Sgr A*. While large populations of binaries have been posited to exist in this region both to explain the presence of young stars in the vicinity of a black

− − 42 hole and because of the high stellar densities, no eclipsing binaries are identified. The only periodic source in their sample is the previously identified variable IRS 16SW (P=XX days), which is thought to be a massive pulsating star. For this star, their data shows a much steeper fall- time than rise-time, in contrast to recent results. Several other stars show variability on time scales of 3 to 6 years, but the baseline is too short to know if this variability is periodic or due to episodic dust formation or variable mass ejection. However, in the case of IRS 29N, which has a known spectral type of WC9, this variation is likely due to episodic dust formation, which may suggest that this source is a close binary star system. Their sample also includes 4 of the 23 candidate LBV stars in our galaxy. LBVs are believed to be a limited phase of evolution for the most massive stars (> 60-85 Msun). Only 2 of the LBV candidates in their sample show variability and none show the characteristic large increase or decrease in luminosity. However, the time baseline is too short to rule them out as LBVs. Their study has shown that photometric variability provides a useful handle on the unusually massive star population surrounding our Galaxy's supermassive black hole and its local environment.

Milestone 9: Derive limits (or detection) on extended mass distribution from deviations from Keplerian orbits Current 3s limit on the extended mass distribution within 0.01 parsec (furthest approach of S0-2) is 0.6 ± 106 solar masses. This is based on S0-2 orbit alone. Ghez’s team is now working on getting an estimate from multiple stars.

Theme 3: Extreme Adaptive Optics (ExAO): Enabling Ultra-High Contrast Astronomical Observations

Introduction

Extreme Adaptive Optics (ExAO) focuses on the development and utilization of precision AO systems and instrumentation to enable ultra-high-contrast astronomical observations. The primary goal is the discovery and characterization of extrasolar planets through direct imaging, thereby providing new insights into planet properties and formation. Commencing in Year 4, members of the ExAO theme set out to accomplish this by proposing an ambitious, highly collaborative, multi-institutional, long-term project that included scientific and technological components. The objective is deployment of a dedicated ultra-high-contrast system for an 8-10 meter telescope capable of imaging self-luminous, extrasolar planets at contrast levels better than 10-7.

In Year 5, the CfAO team completed the conceptual design of an ExAO system for the Keck Observatory and subsequently competed for and was awarded a contract from the Gemini Observatory for a similar ExAO system design study. The CfAO design team expertise was significantly augmented for the Gemini design study by participants from additional institutions in the US and Canada. During Year 6, this partnership completed the Gemini ExAO system design study and delivered to Gemini a comprehensive, four-volume conceptual design report and a proposal for construction of the instrument. Following a series of technical and programmatic reviews, this proposal was ultimately selected for funding by Gemini, thereby fulfilling one of the necessary conditions for the accomplishment of the overall ExAO theme goals and objectives – obtaining the additional funding required for an instrument capable of imaging extrasolar planets.

In Year 7, ExAO theme efforts include risk reduction and the study of key technologies for ExAO: MEMS properties, wavefront sensing and reconstruction without systematic errors, optimal coronagraph architectures, and precision wavefront calibration. We continue to

− − 43 demonstrate some of these technologies in the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics at UCSC, and we have begun demonstrating others at JPL and the American Museum of Natural History. We also continue to support ongoing programs in high-contrast observations at Lick and Keck observatories, as well as basic research activities, such as development of the science case for the Gemini ExAO system, which are beyond the scope of the construction project, but will optimize the ability of the scientific community to utilize this instrument. For Year 8, our plan is primarily a continuation of these activities begun and ongoing in year 7, which are crucial for the success of the Gemini instrument. One new addition will be a project to use a 1.5-meter off-axis portion of Palomar 5-meter telescope along with the existing Palomar AO system to produce a prototype ExAO system, enabling the first study of ExAO images on the sky.

The ExAO theme takes explicit advantage of the “Center mode of operation,” since its project is significantly larger in scope and duration than a typical NSF single PI project, and can only be accomplished by coordinating and combining the efforts of numerous researchers at multiple institutions. Developing the key enabling technologies for an ExAO system necessitates multi- disciplinary collaborations, including links to engineering researchers and industrial partnerships. Development of key enabling technologies also strengthens links between astronomy and vision science. For example, MEMS deformable mirrors are being developed for both applications, and current AO system performance optimization activities address both astronomical and vision science systems. Finally, design and implementation of an ExAO system with 103-104 degrees of freedom on the current generation of large telescopes is an important step towards AO for extremely large telescopes, which requires a similar number of control points.

ExAO Theme Accomplishments

High-contrast science with current AO systems

The team led by Andrea Ghez at UCLA is continuing to probe two aspects of star and planetary system formation. First, it is performing high contrast imaging on young stars known to host either a circumbinary or edge-on circumstellar disk. Obtaining a resolved scattered light image at 3-5
m of these disks enables discrimination of dust grains that are larger than those found in the interstellar medium. In Year 7, this team is preparing a paper reporting the results from Keck AO observations of three well known, resolved, circumstellar disks in Taurus. All three show an angular dependence of scattered light in the 3-5
m region that does not behave as expected from standard models of interstellar dust; the circumstellar disks consistently show evidence for more forward throwing dust at longer wavelengths. These results suggest the presence of grain growth in circumstellar disks, the first stage of planet formation. Second, this team is conducting high spatial resolution imaging and spectroscopic observations of close, young low-mass binary stars. This work is now yielding its first orbital solutions, its overall goals being the calibration of pre- main sequence evolutionary models across the stellar-substellar boundary and the verification of the mass of several candidate substellar companions. In Year 7, two papers are in preparation based on measurements of Taurus/Ophiuchus binary systems. One paper highlights the first dynamical measurement of a T Tauri star with mass below 0.3 solar masses and the other focuses on the first dynamical estimate of an infrared companion to T Tau.

The team led by James Graham at UC Berkeley is continuing a program of observing debris disks around nearby stars with AO and a survey of Herbig Ae/Be stars using Lick AO polarimetry. Debris disks are the extrasolar analogs of our Zodiacal and Kuiper dust belts, but on account of their youth, they are signposts of the transitional phase from protoplanetary disk to mature solar system. In Year 7, Kalas, Graham and Fitzgerald have obtained Keck AO data for several new

− − 44 debris disks. These observations include the first 2.0
m imaging of the HD 32297 debris disk, tracing the disk from 0."5 to 3" radius and providing a good match to HST NICMOS coronagraphy at 1.1
m. The combined Keck and HST data will be modeled by the team’s scattered light codes to constrain disk properties.

Figure II.22: Keck AO K-band image of HD 32297's edge-on disk. Keck AO images combined with J-band HST/NICMOS images enables measurement of disk color to establish grain properties.

The Lick LGS/AO polarimetry survey of Herbig Ae/Be stars had an excellent observing season, bringing the grand total of observed Herbig Ae/Be stars to well over 100, nearly a quarter of which have extended polarized scattered light. In addition, the team used the newly commissioned integral field spectrometer, OSIRIS, at Keck Observatory to observe four Herbig Ae/Be stars selected from the Lick sample. The use of OSIRIS is especially relevant since the science camera for the Gemini ExAO system will also be an integral field spectrometer. The most exciting result was the highest resolution image ever of the outflow from LkHa 233. The OSIRIS observations show this outflow to be tightly collimated within tens of AU from the central source, reveal bright knots that indicate periodic fluctuations in the outflow, and show acceleration along the length of the jet.

Figure II.23: LkHa 233’s jet revealed by LGS/AO Keck2/OSIRIS. Left: A conventional JHK AO image. Right: OSIRIS image centered on the [Fe II] 1.644 m line (green, with continuum in grey). OSIRIS’s spectral resolution enables the detection of this jet, which is undetectable in broadband light.

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Science Case for Gemini Planet Imager

In Year 7, a team led by James Graham at UC Berkeley has been studying the science case for the Gemini ExAO system, now known as the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI). The science case currently includes three main themes for exoplanet research. First, the abundance of circumstellar disks suggests that the frequency of planetary systems may be as high as 15 to 50%: a range that is defined by the occurrence of debris disks and protostellar disks, respectively. The low detection rate of Doppler exoplanets may be a consequence of the biases inherent to the spectroscopic methods that detect orbital motion. So far, none of the Doppler surveys has the precision or lifetime necessary to detect Jupiter and thus do not yet constrain the frequency of solar system analogs. The median semi-major axis of known exoplanet orbits is 0.9 AU and only one planet has a semi-major axis of more than 5 AU (55 Cnc d at 5.9 AU). The underlying distribution of planets implies that a direct-imaging search of outer solar system regions (4-40 AU) would increase the total number of planets found relative to those in inner solar system orbits (0.4-4 AU). For a surface density law that meets the requirements of the minimum solar nebula, such a search would approximately quadruple the total number of known planets. Our goal is to assemble a statistically significant sample of exoplanets that probes beyond the indirect searches and quantifies the abundance of solar systems like our own.

A second reason to image the outer regions of solar systems is to sample the regions where Jovian planets are thought to form and to quantify the greatest distance out to which giant planets can occur. The outer limit for planet formation depends on at least two competing factors: time-scales for planet building and the availability of raw material. Dynamical and viscous time scales in the disk are shorter at small radii, while for typical surface density laws the amount of mass increases with radius, with a jump in the abundance of solid material at the "snow line" where ices condense. The change in the surface density of solid material occurs at 2.7 AU in the Hayashi model. The location of this boundary depends on the disk structure but for solar type stars, the zone of interest is beyond that which is readily probed by the Doppler method. The discovery of giant planets far beyond the snow line would tend to favor theories of planet formation by gravitational instability over solid core condensation and accretion. At larger orbital radii (> 30 AU), gas-cooling times become shorter than the Keplerian shearing time – a necessary condition for runaway gravitational instability, while solid core growth by collisional coagulation of planetesimals proceeds prohibitively slowly.

A third reason to image the outer regions of extrasolar systems is to probe them for vestiges of planetary migration. Ninety percent of the Doppler sample consists of massive planets with semi- major axis less than 3 AU, suggesting that they migrated inwards to their present locations. A variety of mechanisms may drive orbital evolution: the tidal gravitational interaction between the planet and a viscous disk, the gravitational interaction between two or more Jupiter mass planets, and the interaction between a planet and a planetesimal disk. It is energetically favorable for a Keplerian disk to evolve by transporting mass inward and angular momentum outward. Consequently, inward planetary drift appears inevitable. However, if planets form while the disk is being dispersed, or if multiple planets are present, outward migration can also occur. In a system consisting initially of two Jupiter-like planets, a dynamical instability may eject one planet while the other is left in a tight, eccentric orbit. The second planet is not always lost; the observed Doppler exoplanet eccentricity distribution can be reproduced if the 51 Pegasi systems are formed by planet-planet scattering events and the second planet typically remains bound in a wide, eccentric orbit. Divergent migration of pairs of Jupiter-mass planets within viscous disks leads to mutual resonance crossings and excitation of orbital eccentricities such that the resultant

− − 46 ellipticities are inversely correlated with planet masses. Given decreasing disk viscosity with radius and the consequent reduction in planetary mobility with radius, we expect eccentricities to decrease with radius, perhaps sharply if the magneto-rotational instability is invoked. By contrast, excitation of eccentricity by disk-planet interactions requires no additional planet to explain the ellipticities of currently known solitary planets. Clearly, observations of the incidence, mass, and eccentricity distributions of multiple planet systems would sharpen our nebulous ideas regarding how planetary orbits are sculpted.

2.3. Wavefront Sensing and Reconstruction

Experimental work on wavefront sensing and reconstruction with the ExAO test bed in the UCSC Laboratory for Adaptive Optics has made excellent progress in Year 7. The spatially filtered WFS developed by Lisa Poyneer and Bruce Macintosh at LLNL has been shown to substantially reduce the residual phase power in the controllable band, in comparison to a regular aliased Shack- Hartmann WFS. Detailed alignment procedures and codes have been developed, with the result that the spatially filtered WFS, in combination with the Fourier Transform Reconstructor, can flatten the MEMS deformable mirror to 1.0 nm RMS in the controllable spatial frequency range with 27 subapertures across the pupil. This performance can be further improved by using a single measurement from the Phase Shifting Diffraction Interferometer to modify the reference slopes to account for inaccuracies in the initial reference measurement, similar to the feedback that will be provided by the Gemini Planet Imager’s IR interferometer/calibaration system. With this single compensation, closed-loop flattening is improved to 0.7 nm RMS, essentially the limit due to atmospheric air currents and MEMS behavior.

Figure II.24: Low-pass-filtered residual phase error on the MEMS deformable mirror after flattening with the spatially filtered WFS using the Fourier Transform Reconstructor. With 27 subapertures across this 9.2 mm aperture, the RMS error in the controllable spatial frequency range is 1.0 nm.

Further work was also performed on the Optimal Fourier Control (OFC) in Year 7 by Lisa Poyneer and Bruce Macintosh at LLNL and Jean-Pierre Veran at the Hertzberg Institute for Astrophysics in Victoria, Canada. OFC is a computationally efficient wavefront control method. At every time step, the Fourier transform reconstructor estimates the residual phase error. A supervisory process keeps track of the closed-loop Fourier modal coefficients, and uses them to estimate the temporal power spectral density of the input atmospheric phase error and the system noise. The control loop gain is then optimized for each Fourier mode to provide the lowest total residual error. Because of the use of the Fourier modes, this method allows the direct minimization of scattered light at specific locations in the PSF, making it a desirable method for planet detection. CfAO researchers have further developed the theoretical framework for the optimization, by constructing a detailed element-based model of the entire AO system. This modeling revealed that a wide range of gains are required to achieve optimal performance. In a typical operating scenario the optimal gains span a range of 0.4 out of 1.0. More importantly,

− − 47 OFC was shown to effectively double the number of targets for the GPI, allowing observation of (scientifically key) dim stars.

Figure II.25: Simulated point spread functions for the Gemini Planet Imager before and after gain optimization using Optimal Fourier Control. OFC was shown to effectively double the number of targets for the GPI, allowing observation of (scientifically key) dim stars.

Precision wavefront calibration

The single greatest factor limiting high-contrast observations with current AO systems are quasi- static wavefront errors from sources such as non-common-path calibration errors in the wavefront sensor. A key requirement for future AO systems is to reduce these static errors by 1-2 orders of magnitude. To do this, we must sense these wavefront errors at the science wavelength and as close as possible to the science instrument or coronagraph. In an ExAO architecture, the conventional Shack- Hartmann sensor cannot see these errors – it must operate at visible wavelengths to achieve high frame rates, has internal optics such as lenslets that introduce non- common-path errors, and will likely have undersampled pixels/quad cells and hence a limited linear range. To address this problem, the CfAO has developed an ExAO architecture incorporating a precision infrared wavefront sensor. This system is tightly integrated with the coronagraph and operates at the near-IR science wavelengths. Rather than attempting to control atmospheric wavefront errors, it measures the time-averaged wavefront to sense any systematic offset in the science wavefront. This time-averaged information can then be fed back to the main AO system to change the calibration of the Shack-Hartmann sensor, and/or be used to reconstruct the final PSF.

In Year 7, a team led by Kent Wallace at JPL has been working on the precision wavefront control that will be needed for future ExAO systems, such as the Gemini Planet Imager. Over the past year JPL has developed analytical expressions and SNR calculations for this type of precision wavefront calibration. In addition, the JPL team has assembled a precision wavefront calibration test bed. This test bed has: a broadband visible coronagraph, deformable mirror and electronics, calibration wave front sensor camera and surrogate science camera. The JPL team has already demonstrated the capability to measure the complex wavefront of the system, and will soon begin testing precision wavefront calibration algorithms.

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Figure II.26: JPL precision wavefront calibration test bed.

2.5. Optimal Coronagraph Architectures

Coronagraphs are optical devices that suppress the light from a very bright AO guide star in order to see faint structure such as disks, planets, and brown dwarfs in the immediate vicinity of the guide star. CfAO plans for fielding coronagraphs on 8-10-meter-class telescopes rely on prototyping such coronagraphs, and understanding their behavior at the contrast level of 1 part in 107, in order to observe young Jupiter-like planets around nearby stars. A team at the American Museum of Natural History, led by Anand Sivaramakrishnan and Ben Oppenheimer, has developed an Apodized Pupil Lyot coronagraph (APLC) design to work in an ExAO system on an 8-meter telescope. In Year 7, this team has studied fabrication methods and mask properties and has developed the theory of how to measure a faint companion’s position relative to the star that the coronagraph has blotted out from the image. The approach is to place a square grid of thin wires over a pupil in front of the focal plane mask, creating an array of spots. The central spot, being the main stellar PSF, is blocked by the coronagraph. However, the fainter satellite images come through to the coronagraphic focal plane, and are used as fiducial references for position and brightness

Figure II.27 Complex interaction of residual speckle noise with four fiducial spots located either just outside or just inside the “dark hole” created by the ExAO system. This behavior must be studied in order to develop accurate relative astrometry and photometry in ExAO coronagraphic images.

− − 49 Theme 4: Compact Vision Science Instrumentation for Clinical and Scientific Use

Introduction: Scientific research using ophthalmic AO systems was demonstrated in the laboratory in Years 1- 5. Scientists and engineers participating in the Vision Theme focused their efforts on the development and eventual commercialization of ophthalmic instrumentation equipped with AO. The goal was to extend their use to clinics by engineering low cost, compact robust AO systems for use by clinicians unskilled in adaptive optics. As part of this process, the newly developed and currently existing AO systems have been used to advance our understanding of human vision, and to explore the medical applications of adaptive optics, thus providing the necessary feedback to developers to assure the utility of the advanced AO designs.

The goals for Theme 4 during Years 6-10 are:

Image the retina in vivo at the 3-D resolution limit exploiting confocal, optical coherence tomography (OCT), fluorescence, polarization, retinal tracking and post-processing;
Demonstrate scientific and clinical value of AO;
Disseminate knowledge about vision AO;
Develop an AO-assisted microscope for retinal surgery;
Commercialize an AO phoropter that is superior to and replaces conventional subjective refraction methods; and
Develop inexpensive, compact, high-stroke deformable mirrors.

Year 7 Results

Commercialization path for ophthalmic adaptive optics. The University of Rochester and the University of Houston have licensed several patents on the ophthalmic applications of adaptive optics to Optos, Inc. Discussions are underway on the best way to incorporate a high resolution, AO imaging capability into the existing wide field fundus camera produced by Optos. Optos also has an interest in using the wavefront sensor that will accompany the AO system for providing estimates of the refractive state of the eye.

Successful implementation of dual-channel AOSLO at UC Berkeley: Roorda’s group has completed the alignment of three different light sources into their system. At any given time, two lasers can be used simultaneously. The implementation takes advantage of the fact that the SLO mirror scans in both directions. The resulting image shows a book-matched pair of retinal images, each taken with a different wavelength. This new development, along with the ability developed in Year 6 to project complex stimuli directly onto the retina via the raster scan, facilitates a host of basic and clinical science applications, some of which will be described below.

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Figure. II.28: Unprocessed dual-wavelength (left: 660 nm, right: 840 nm) image of the human retina in vivo. This is a single raw image captured in real time, where the book-matched (mirror image) pair is seen simultaneously. The image is of the foveal region of a patient with a laser burn. The lesion (white spot on center) is much clearer in the infrared channel.

Intrinsic Retinal Signals: It has been shown that stimulating the retina with light can induce changes in the scattering characteristics of the retina. Berkeley’s dual-channel AOSLO is well suited for this experiment, and they have made some initial measurements. In this experiment, the infra-red channel records the image, while the red channel is used to deliver a bright flash over the upper half of the imaged field. The resulting changes in reflectance in the infrared image are recorded. Fig II.29 shows the result from one measurement where a significant drop in scattered light is observed. This measurement may provide a non-invasive objective way to measure the function of the retina.

Figure II.29. The mean scattered intensity in the IR channels drops after a 2-second duration 660 nm stimulus is delivered to the retina. Upper and lower traces are the standard deviation from five repeated runs.

Microperimetry at Berkeley: The dual channel system allows Roorda’s group to map patient responses to small visible spots of light by recording their exact landing position on the retina with the infrared channel. This allows for unprecedented correlation of structure in the retina to its function. So far the experiment has been tested on healthy human eyes (see figure II.30) but they plan to use this method to map retinal function in some of our patients that have inherited retinal diseases, such as cone-rod dystrophy and retinitis pigmentosa.

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Figure II.30. Single dual-channel frame as was shown in Fig 1, but this time the red laser is modulated to produce a fixation target and a brief stimulus flash. The exact location of the flash is indicated on the right infra-red channel.

Microstimulate the Cone Mosaic with Flash Location Recorded at Rochester. The goal of this project is to map the posterceptoral circuitry of color vision by stimulating single cones with tiny test flashes and comparing the color appearance of these flashes with the photopigment contained in the cone stimulated. The Rochester group has made important progress on this project by obtaining evidence that they can locate where point sources of light land on the retina with an error much smaller than the size of a cone. This evidence is that flashes that they record as falling between cones are detected several times less frequently that flashes that they record as falling near the center of a cone.

Superacuity at Berkeley: Ethan Rossi has used the single channel AOSLO with laser modulation to investigate the acuity limits of human vision. With the AOSLO he can project ultra sharp stimuli directly onto the retina. Ethan’s experiment was to investigate how much visual acuity can improve after AO correction and what were the benefits of correcting aberrations over a large pupil. Visual acuity results after AO correction were excellent, getting as low as 20/6.5. Emmetropes routinely did better than 20/8 after AO correction. Subjects showed a slight benefit with training. Interestingly, subjects performed just as well with an AO correction with a 3 mm pupil as with a 5.81 mm pupil, despite the fact that, according to diffraction theory, the image through the 5.81 mm pupil was much sharper.

− − 52 Figure II.31. Visual acuity before and after adaptive optics correction with a 5.81 mm pupil and a 3 mm pupil. After AO correction, subjects perform the acuity task equally well with 3 or 5.81 mm pupils.

Spectral Domain AO-OCT at Indiana University. In Year 7 a new AO spectral domain OCT instrument, based on optical fibers, was developed by Don Miller and his group at Indiana University. The new camera overcame the technical problems encountered with the earlier AO spectral domain OCT camera, which was based on all bulk optics for areal illumination. The system layout is shown in Fig. II.32. The cost of the camera was significant and largely funded by a NEI-BRP grant. CfAO funds were specifically allocated for technical support.

4’

P SHWS P Stop

80/20 P BS scanners Fixation target 2.5’ P Pupil camera P P Grating DM

SLD P

Eye Line scan CCD

Reference channel Detection channel Sample channel

Figure II.32. Layout of the AO SD-OCT retina camera. The camera consists of three channels: (1) sample channel, (2) reference channel, and (3) detection channel. The AO system is integrated into the sample channel. BS, DM, and P refer to the fiber beam splitter, AOptix deformable mirror, and planes that are conjugate to the pupil of the eye, respectively. Footprint of the camera is small enough to permit passage through standard doorways and into elevators, which provides considerable flexibility for clinical use in the future.

− − 53 In Year 7 the new camera successfully imaged the living retina with high 3D resolution (3x3x4.8 μm) and speed (75,000 A-scan/s). The acquisition rate was 2.5 times faster than that previously reported in the literature. Retina motion artifacts were minimized by quickly acquiring small volume images of the retina with and without AO compensation. Initial results demonstrate a 7 to 8.2 dB increase in SNR of the photoreceptor layer with AO correction. Camera sensitivity was sufficient to detect reflections from all major retinal layers. The distribution of bright spots observed within C-scans at the IS/OS junction and at the posterior tip of the OSs were found to be significantly correlated to one another as well as to the expected cone spacing (see Figure II.33). No correlation was found between the posterior tip of the OSs and the OPL, ELM, and RPE. This finding is strong evidence that the waveguided light that reflects back out of cone photoreceptors largely originates from only two narrow layers that straddle the OS in the retina. No evidence was found that the light reflected from the RPE was recaptured by the overlying cone photoreceptors.

NFL IPL

OPL ELM Cone cells

IS/OS Posterior of the OS

RPE 150 _m (a) (b)

Figure II.33. C-scans extracted from several depths in AO-OCT volume images that were acquired at 2o eccentricity on two subjects, (a) and (b). C-scans correspond to the outer plexiform layer (OPL), external limiting membrane (ELM), inner and outer segment (IS/OS) junction, posterior of OS, and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Focus is approximately at the plane of the photoreceptors. Images are displayed using a linear intensity scale.

The rapid fluctuation in the reflectance of single cones and its dependence on photopigment bleaching using the high speed conventional flood-illumination AO retina camera (Indiana University). Dynamic fluctuation in the reflectance of single cones has been reported to occur over periods of minutes to many hours in the living eye. The cause of these fluctuations is unknown, although a relationship to disc shedding has been suggested. However, the reflectance fluctuation has never been measured at short time scales on the order of seconds or less. In Year 6 the Indiana group monitored single cone reflectance over a period of a few seconds using their AO retina camera. As described in that year’s annual report, they observed that the reflectance of many single cones fluctuated rapidly over this time period. They attempted to explain this unexpected behavior using a simple two surface reflector model for the photoreceptors in conjunction with photopigment bleaching incurred by the imaging light source (670 nm).

In Year 7, Indiana rigorously evaluated the two-surface model by executing a series of experiments that manipulated, in a controlled fashion, several parameters deemed important for cone fluctuation. A repeatability study was also performed on the fluctuation pattern of individual cones, an example of which is shown in Figure II.34. Results of the experiments provided support for the model, but with noticeable unexplained variance. The complexity of the pattern suggests

− − 54 that other photoreceptor processes, such as photoreceptor cross talk, could be involved and if so could provide fundamental insight into the phototransduction process with proper deciphering of the fluctuation pattern.

3 mW, 2 ms 1 mW, 8 ms 1 mW, 2 ms 1 mW, 4 ms 30 fps 20 fps 30 fps 30 fps

1

0

1 -1“M” cone reflection 0303030 3 1

1.4∞ecc. 0 “L” cone reflection -1 01 01 01 01 Seconds

Figure II.34. Intensity fluctuations of two selected cones for four different bleaching/imaging conditions. Experimental (blue) and two-surface prediction (red) are both shown. The predicted curves were phase shifted in order to align to the experimental curves.

Imaging RPE cells with autofluorescence at Rochester. The Rochester team demonstrated in Year 7 that it is possible to image the RPE cell mosaic in monkey and human eyes with the autofluorescence of lipofuscin. The RPE cells lie directly behind the photoreceptors in the retina and provide metabolic support for the photoreceptors. RPE cells accumulate an autofluorescent material called lipofuscin as a byproduct of natural retinal processes. Using the fluorescence scanning laser ophthalmoscope equipped with adaptive optics that has been built at Rochester as part of a Bioengineering Research Partnership, images of the RPE have been obtained in human donor eyes ex vivo, in human and monkey eyes in vivo.

Figure II.35 shows the RPE mosaic at 10 degrees nasal-inferior from the fovea and at the fovea. In both images the RPE cell mosaic appears in a honeycomb pattern where the nuclei of the cells are dark and the fluorescence shows the cell edges. The RPE cells in the above images are triangularly packed, most cells having 6 immediate neighbors. At 10 degrees nasal-inferior from the fovea, the average modal cell spacing was 17.6 mm while at the fovea, the modal cell spacing 2 was 11.6 mm. The cell density at 10 degrees was found to be 2,876 cells/mm and 6,339 2 cells/mm at the fovea. They made simultaneous measurements of RPE and cone density at 10 degrees eccentricity, where cone density was found to be 13,275 cells/mm2. Their measured density of cones at 10 degrees eccentricity is 4.6 times greater than that of RPE cells, making RPE cells easily distinguishable from cones.

− − 55

Figure II.35: RPE cells imaged at two retinal locations: (a) approximately 10 deg nasal-inferior from the fovea, (b) centered at the fovea. RPE cell nuclei are dark while the cytoplasm contains the fluorescent lipofuscin granules. Scale bars are 75 μm.

Simultaneous Dual Wavelength Imaging at Rochester. Due to the extremely low light levels involved, the acquisition of fluorescence images with an acceptable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) requires averaging hundreds of frames. The success of this averaging relies heavily on compensating for eye motion. In the first half of Year 7 Alf Dubra and Jessica Wolfing implemented a first-order solution to this problem based on the idea of dual imaging and a normalized cross-correlation algorithm. The Rochester AOSLO was modified for simultaneous reflectance and fluorescence imaging. The reflectance images use the high SNR image features such as blood vessels and photoreceptors (see left image on Fig. II.36) to estimate the eye motion using an in-house normalized cross-correlation algorithm. The estimated motion is then applied to the corresponding fluorescence sequence of images (see center image for a typical image) before averaging, producing a dramatic improvement, as shown on the right image, where individual labeled ganglion cells can be resolved.

Figure II.36 – Image registration using dual imaging. A series of reflectance retinal images (left) is cross-correlated for image motion estimation, which is then applied to a series of fluorescence images (center) to produce a registered average (right).

− − 56 Imaging Primate Ganglion Cells Using Rochester’s Fluorescence Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope. Rochester has obtained high-resolution images of ganglion cells and axons with adaptive optics in the monkey retina. Imaging results in Figure II.37 shows ganglion cell bodies and axons (1(a)) labeled with either rhodamine dextran or Alexa 594 dyes from different regions of the retina. Figure II.37(a) was taken at approximately 18 degrees inferior- nasal from the fovea, just below the optic disk and shows labeled axons extending up and to the right from some of the labeled cells. Figure II.37(b) was taken on the vertical meridian of the retina about 10 degrees inferior from the fovea and shows dense labeling of ganglion cells in the left half of the image which project to the injected lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). The unlabeled ganglion cells on the right side of the image project to the opposite LGN. Ganglion cells in both II.37(a) and II.37(b) were labeled with rhodamine dextran dye and the images were taken before the adaptive optics and simultaneous registration techniques had been implemented. Figures II.37(c) and (d) show the persistence of the dye labeled cells with Alexa 594 dye. II.37(c) was taken 37 days after the injection and (b) was taken 77 days later. The four ganglion cells marked by arrows can be seen in both images. They observed that after a particularly dense injection, label could be seen five months after the injection. Only Figure II.37(c) was taken with the use of adaptive optics. Here the adaptive optics was used to focus through the ganglion cell layer to find the best plane of focus in steps of 0.1 diopters (D).

Fig. II.37. (a) Ganglion cell bodies and axons labeled with rhodamine dextran dye. The image was taken at approximately 18 degrees inferior-nasal from the fovea, with the optic disk to the upper right of the image. (b) Ganglion cells labeled with rhodamine dextran dye at approximately 10 degrees inferior from the fovea at the vertical meridian. (c) Ganglion cells labeled with alexa 594 dye at approximately 10 degrees inferior-nasal from the fovea, 37 days after labeling. (d) From the same location, taken 77 days after image (c) showing at least four ganglion cells that remained labeled. (a, b) taken without AO correction and without simultaneous registration. (c, d) taken with simultaneous registration, (c) with closed loop AO correction. Scale bars: (a, b) 100 microns, (c, d) 50 microns.

− − 57 Ganglion cells labeled with rhodamine dextran dye exhibited a brightening effect when the retinal light exposure was increased by three times. The effect was apparent while cells were being imaged, and the brightening could be enhanced by adjusting the scanner amplitudes to illuminate only a small 1-degree patch. Figure II.38 shows the result of exposing one section of the retina to increased light for approximately 20 minutes. After exposure, shown in Figure II.38(b) the exposed cells were substantially brighter than cells that were not exposed. The extent of the exposure was larger than 1 degree due to eye motion.

Fig. II.38. (a) Located at approximately 20 degrees inferior-nasal from the fovea, ganglion cells labeled with rhodamine dextran dye. The image was taken before exposure to intense light, and cells were excited at 530 nm. The green box shows approximate size of exposed region (b) Increased intensity of cell fluorescence due to a 20-minute exposure of a 1-degree square area with 530 nm excitation. Both images were taken without adaptive optics or simultaneous registration, scale bars are 100 μm.

Our future goals are to investigate alternative cell labeling techniques, as well as to use the high resolution of adaptive optics combined with in vivo photodynamics to resolve the dendritic fields.

Completion of Book: Adaptive Optics for Vision Science: Principles, Practice, and Applications. In July 2006, Wiley published the CfAO-generated manual that contains basic and detailed information on how to design, build, calibrate and implement adaptive optics systems for vision science applications. Jason Porter (University of Rochester), Hope Queener (University of Houston), Julianna Lin (University of Rochester), Karen Thorne (formerly of Indiana University), and Abdul Awwal (Lawrence Livermore) are co-editors of the manual. Many CfAO members in the vision science and astronomical communities contributed chapters for this book, exemplifying the collaborative nature of the Center. All chapters underwent technical and editorial reviews and were submitted to the editorial committee in August 2005. Subsequently, Hope Queener, Julianna Lin, and Jason Porter reviewed the final chapters, completed the glossary, checked for symbol consistency in all chapters, generated a symbol list, and generated a list of suggested words for inclusion in the index. Sara Peterson worked with the editorial team to develop the cover art for the manual, and the final draft of the manual was submitted to Wiley on September 20, 2005. The CfAO has updated its webpage devoted to the AO Manual at: http://cfao.ucolick.org/pubs/manual.php. The John Wiley & Sons, Inc. web page for the AO Manual can be found at: http://www.wiley.com/remtitle.cgi?isbn=0471679410.

− − 58 Progress on Segmented MEMS Deformable Mirrors at Iris AO. This year has included a series of watershed moments for Iris AO. Iris AO has greatly improved segment-height uniformity from a bound of more than ±2μm to better than ±500nm. This results in as-released array quality of better than 300nm rms. They have demonstrated a DM array with all segments working and have demonstrated operating the DM array with an open loop controller that can apply arbitrary piston/tip/tilt positions. This controller can flatten a DM to better than 30nm rms open loop. Iris AO was awarded a patent by the USPTO: Deformable Mirror Method and Apparatus Including Bimorph Flexures and Integrated Drive, 10/703,391.

In addition to DM development, Iris AO has integrated a DM into a Bausch & Lomb Zywave Aberrometer. This is directly in line with the goal of creating a commercial AO phoropter.

Progress on MEMS Deformable Mirrors at Boston Micromachines, Inc. Long-stroke deformable mirrors produced in Year 7, which will be fabricated using advanced actuator arrays demonstrated in Year 6, will build on a foundation of prior innovations and industry-leading experience by the project team. In Year 6 research, BMC designed, modeled, and produced electrostatic actuator arrays having more than 6μm of stroke for each of 140 independent actuators. These actuator array designs will be used to fabricate the new MEMS DM in which these actuators support an optical quality membrane mirror having >90% reflectivity at visible wavelengths. The device will be coupled to a controller and will be capable of high-speed (>30Hz) real-time compensation of aberrations of the eye, and will have a range suitable for diffraction-limited imaging of the retina.

Long Stroke Actuator Performance Measured and Predicted Results 8

7

6

5

4

Deflection, um 3

Actuator Design 1 - Analysis 2 Actuator Design 1 - Measured

1 Actuator Design 2 - Analysis

Actuator Design 2 - Measured 0 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 Voltage, V

Figure II.39 Voltage vs. deflection performance results from two different actuator design types. Both actuators achieve a stroke of more than 6μm. Also shown is the predicted actuator performance showing good correlation with measured data.

II.2b Research Management (Metrics) Research Management is provided by the Director and the Center’s Executive Committee (EC). The latter includes Center representatives including Theme leaders. The EC meets biweekly utilizing video- and telephone-conferencing links. The Center Director and EC are assisted by

− − 59 two external committees, the External Advisory Board (EAB) and the Program Advisory Committee (PAC). The EAB meets annually and advises on strategic issues and directions that the Center needs to pursue. It reports to a University oversight committee chaired by the Vice- Chancellor for Research at UCSC. The PAC also meets annually and assists in ensuring the scientific and technical vitality of the Center’s research program, reporting to the CfAO Director. UC Santa Cruz oversight is via our Oversight Committee, consisting of the Vice Chancellor for Research, the Dean of Physical and Biological Sciences, the Dean of Engineering, the Director of Lick Observatory, and other key officials. The Oversight Committee meets annually.

In the spring of each year, researchers forward their proposals to the CfAO for continuing or new research. Proposals are reviewed by external and internal reviewers and then discussed in committee. Those “on the edge” are directed to PAC for discussion and advice. Funding decisions are typically made by the end of June each year. The annual cycle for funding begins on November 1.

The Center organizes annual Fall and Spring Retreats which are attended by most researchers, graduate students, and postdocs. This year’s Spring Retreat (2006) differed from those of previous years in that it was held at UCSC as a series of sequential and overlapping Theme workshops. The thematic approach enabled participants to have “in depth” sessions in their discipline and by overlapping some sessions and meal times the desired information exchange between disciplines was achieved. An example of this focused thematic approach was in Theme 4 where attendees were encouraged to demonstrate and exchange vision science software they had developed. Participants at these sessions considered them to be most informative and a success. In addition, smaller workshops and symposia on specialized topics are held during the year as the need arises.

Partnerships The objective of CfAO’s partnership activities is to enhance the Center’s ability to fulfill its research and education goals. The Center is pursuing this objective through:
Leveraging its efforts through industry partnerships and cross-disciplinary collaborations.
Stimulating further investment by government and industry sources in AO research and development
Catalyzing the commercialization of AO technologies leading to technological advancements relevant to CfAO research objectives and enabling broader use of adaptive optics.

The CfAO has on-going partnership activities with 13 optics and micro-electronics companies, 5 national laboratories, 5 non-CfAO universities, 6 astronomical observatories, and 2 international partner institutions. The Education program has in addition developed 22 partnerships both in Hawaii and on the mainland. The former include the Maui Economic Development Board, high tech companies in Hawaii, educational institutions, the Air Force in Maui, and several Observatories.

Key partnership activities in our research Themes are with the Thirty Meter Telescope Project (Theme 2), and with the Gemini Observatory (Theme 3).

− − 60 II.2c. Research Plans for the coming year

Theme 2. Future Plans

In Year 8 we continue for a second year to support work given the new emphasis within Theme 2: which is bringing to fruition promising component technologies and supporting breakthrough astronomical AO science. The highest ranked proposal was that of Andrea Ghez (UCLA) and in the coming year, we expect exciting new regarding the Galactic center as more laser-guided adaptive optics data is collected and analyzed. The CATS project is just starting to assemble a significant database of extragalactic data, in particular a wealth of data from the new OSIRIS integral field spectrograph commissioned at Keck just this year. We anticipate in the coming year, that this data will yield significant new insights regarding early galaxy formation and evolution. Imke de Pater’s solar system studies, with its stunning imaging of moons, rings, and asteroids, will continue. This work is providing new insight into solar system formation (through the study of asteroids) and the nature and interaction of rings and the many moons of the gas giants. This is only possible with AO on large telescopes. On the MEMS front, there are two extremely important projects being funded. First of all, the MEMS consortium project required only one year of CfAO funding, so it falls off our funding list for Year 8. However, with the success of Phase 1 of the consortium, this project will continue into Phases 2 and 3 which will, within roughly two years, produce a device that will be fielded in a major astronomical instrument, the Gemini Planet Imager. As far as we know, this will be the first astronomical AO instrument to employ a MEMS deformable mirror, and is a milestone for which the CfAO can truly take credit. The two funded MEMS projects for Year 8 are advanced research and development of a “3-dimensional” MEMS at UC Santa Cruz and development of through wafer interconnects for MEMS by Boston Micromachines. (BMC)The 3-d MEMS work was started last year by Prof. Joel Kubby and promises to make a prototype high-stroke DM actuator using metal deposition processing. Success of initial experiments this year combined with a plans to collaborate with similar ongoing work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory gave this proposal a high ranking. The through-wafer interconnect proposal at Boston Micromachines was funded because with 4,000 actuator devices on the horizon the interconnect problem is becoming a key issue. Steve Cornelisson’s models for this technique look very promising and will advance BMC’s capability to produce TMT sized devices (10,000+ actuators) in the future. Although lasers have in the past, not met the promises and predictions made, the CfAO’s sees its role as a catalyst which necessitates supporting motivated highly enthusiastic development teams in high risk next generation technology, that will potentially have a high benefit payoff. In the LLNL laser work, we are focusing on the pulsed/CW format. These are pulses that appear as CW to the Sodium atom yielding the highest return per Watt, but are chopped to allow for time-gating – an ideal format for astronomical AO. In a renegotiation of the CfAO/LLNL proposal, the LLNL team has agreed to provide the new laser to Mount Hamilton Lick Observatory this year rather than next. There will be substantial in-kind assistance from the Lick Observatory laboratories as they will provide the engineering work necessary for mountaintop operations. As a consequence, we expect to be gaining on-sky experience with this promising laser technology within the center’s lifetime. At Palomar, the recent successful closed loop operation of the Chicago laser can be directly attributed to CfAO’s insistence that the laser be moved from the laboratory to the observatory a few years ago. We will continue to support the PI, Ed Kibblewhite, during the summer months for improving this laser’s operation at Palomar and its integration with the Hale telescope laser guidestar AO system.

− − 61 Modeling and Analysis, although now de-emphasized within Theme 2, is still being supported at low levels of funding. We have two new interesting and exciting projects for Year 8. In the first, Don Wiberg at UCSC will develop and test wind-blown turbulence prediction and control algorithms which, if successful, can significantly increase the limiting magnitude of AO reference stars for a given performance. The ultimate impact will be to increase the sky coverage available for AO observation since it enables more plentiful dim stars as useful beacons. A second project is a critical parameters study in advance of fabricating a new wavefront sensor having a pixel format specific to laser guidestars. This work will be complementary to an AODP funded project to build the CCD sensor itself. We have commissioned Caltech (Luc Gilles) and Keck (Sean Adkins) to do this as a collaborative effort that will be supported in part by CfAO director’s discretionary funds and will start during Year 7. The project will also involve the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics at UCSC for testing prototype devices when they become available.

Theme 3. Future Plans

The cornerstone of the CfAO ExAO theme is the construction and deployment of an operational high-contrast AO system for the discovery of extrasolar planets. Our strategy in this Theme is to support fundamental research and development activities required to enable the deployment of an ExAO system on an 8-10 meter telescope, with construction funds provided by an external source. We have completed a detailed conceptual design for such an instrument, the Gemini Planet Imager, and this instrument has been selected for funding by Gemini at a level of ~$23.5M, including contingency. Selection and full funding by Gemini is a major outcome for the CfAO ExAO effort. The contracts for this project are now in place, and the preliminary design phase has begun, to be followed by critical design, construction, integration and test, and delivery to Gemini in 2010.

Following our strategy for this theme, concurrent with the design and construction of the GPI, the CfAO will support the basic research and development needed to enable this instrument. At LLNL, CfAO will fund development of advanced wavefront control algorithms suitable both for GPI and future ELT ExAO systems. At UC Berkeley, CfAO will fund GPI Project Scientist, James Graham, in development of the GPI science case and planning for GPI science operations. At AMNH, Anand Sivaramakrishnan and Ben Oppenheimer will construct a test bed for development of advanced coronagraph masks. At JPL, Kent Wallace will develop and prototype an advanced interferometeric wavefront sensor, and Gene Serabyn will construct a prototype ExAO system at Palomar, using a well-corrected 1.5 meter subaperture, to enable initial studies of ExAO images on the sky. At UCLA and UC Berkeley, Andrea Ghez and James Graham will use current AO systems for high contrast science. CfAO will provide coordination of the different institutions involved and connections to the broader astronomical community, and will organize workshops.

Theme 4 Future Plans Plans at UC Berkeley. The Berkeley team plans to investigate the intrinsic retinal signals further. Their CFAO summer intern, Marilyn Zuniga will be exploring the effect of stimulus brightness on the scattering response. Postdoc Kate Grieve will be trying to determine the origins of the scattered light by comparing local and diffuse scattering responses. Ethan Rossi will continue to explore the limits of human vision with the AOSLO. His next task will be to develop new psychophysical experiments that will better probe the limits of vision, as well as to correlate eye movements and foveal cone density with spatial vision performance.

− − 62 Plans at Indiana. Year Eight will represent a continuation of technical improvements of, and vision science with, the fiber-based AO SD-OCT and AO conventional flood-illumination retina cameras. Milestones include (1) collection of pilot data and submission of an NEI-R01 grant proposal, (2) two technical improvements in the AO SD-OCT camera that will facilitate more efficient data collection, (3) continued investigation of cone photoreceptor scintillation, (4) development of additional tools for image processing, (5) exploration of alternative light sources for flood-illumination retinal imaging, and (6) completion of integration of a high speed CCD in the flood-illumination retina camera. Collaboration with engineering expertise both in and outside the Center will accelerate the six milestones. A multi-year National Eye Institute grant was awarded in Fall 2003 and has accelerated, but not overlapped, with OCT developments funded by CfAO.

Plans at Rochester. Examples of some of the projects for Year 8 at Rochester include:

Exceeding the Diffraction Limit in AO Retinal Imaging. Structured illumination is a method in microscopy (Gustafsson, 2000) to image spatial frequencies beyond the diffraction limit. We are testing the feasibility of applying structured illumination on the Rochester Adaptive Optics Ophthalmoscope to exceed the diffraction limit set by the dilated pupil in retinal imaging.

Microstimulate the Cone Mosaic with Flash Location Recorded. Heidi Hofer and Joe Carroll are continuing experiments at Rochester to study the microcircuitry underlying human color vision using small light flashes delivered to single cones with adaptive optics. The major development last year is that we can now reliably identify the specific cone stimulated by each flash. This is achieved by acquiring an infrared image of the cone mosaic at 904 nm simultaneously with the delivery of a psychophysical test flash. The color appearance of the test flash can then be directly tagged to the receptor that was stimulated on that flash. Though Joe and Heidi have left Rochester for assistant professorships, they will continue to return frequently to Rochester to conduct these experiments. While we have successfully demonstrated that we can record the flash location with an accuracy far smaller than the size of a cone, we have yet to collect the color appearance data. This will be accomplished during Year 8 and the results compared with a model generated by David Brainard at the University of Pennsylvania. This model predicts fluctuations in the appearance of small test stimuli from cone to cone based on the irregularity of the cone mosaic and post-receptoral circuits that provide an invariant color response to large stimuli, regardless of where they fall on the irregular trichromatic mosaic.

Imaging Adolescent Photoreceptors. Jennifer Hunter will join the Rochester Group as a post-doc in the fall of this year and will undertake experiments to image photoreceptors in progressively younger human eyes. The ultimate goal is to observe the process of the formation of the fovea around the time of birth as cones migrate from peripheral retina into the foveal region, forming the very high density observed in adulthood. We have a collaboration with Daphne Bavelier in which we plan to simultaneously monitor the development of the retinotopic map in primary visual cortex using fMRI methods introduced by Brian Wandell. The group will test the hypothesis that the changes in the cone mosaic drive the parallel development of cortical organization.

Characterizing the normal human RPE cell mosaic in vivo. In the second half of Year 7 we expect to image the human RPE mosaic in vivo for the first time. During Year 8 we will extend this project to analyze the characteristics of the normal RPE mosaic. Once the RPE mosaic can be imaged on an individual cellular basis using autofluorescence techniques, we plan to study the topography of the RPE layer.

− − 63 Autofluorescence imaging will be done at different eccentricities to determine how the RPE mosaic changes as a function of eccentricity. Cell spacing, cell size and cell density will be measured in normal subjects over a range of eccentricities from the fovea to approximately 20 degrees from fixation. By simultaneously imaging the photoreceptors and RPE cells, the photoreceptor mosaic and the RPE cell mosaic can be overlapped to allow the photoreceptor to RPE cell ratio to be determined, again as a function of eccentricity. It is known that certain retinal diseases cause abnormal levels of autofluorescence and lipofuscin to appear in the RPE. In conjunction with the milestone to image the cone mosaic of patients with inherited macular dystrophies, these same patients will be examined for abnormal autoflurescence in the retina to determine the effect of inherited macular dystrophies on the RPE cells.

Imaging Primate Ganglion Cells Using the Fluorescence Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope. In year eight the Rochester group plans to label cells with spectrally distinct fluorescent markers through LGN injections and intravitreal labeling techniques to further aid in characterizing cells in vivo. They will also perfect and demonstrate the ability to deliver targeted light to individual ganglion cells in order to visualize ganglion cell dendrites and created single cell lesions to test the effect of cell loss on vision. They have some preliminary data showing that they can occasionally resolve single ganglion cell axons with their fluorescence imaging methods, even without adaptive optics. In the next year, they will refine theirr AO capability to the point that these axons, as well as dendrites, can be routinely resolved in vivo.

Design and construct DIC AOSLO to image ganglion cells noninvasively. It is accepted that changes in the retinal ganglion cell layer correlate with glaucoma, one of the major conditions leading to complete blindness in the USA. Early diagnosis is fundamental to control this condition that, if detected in its early stages, can be treated with drugs. Some commercial ophthalmic instruments estimate the ganglion cell layer thickness using its form birefringence, to aid in the early detection of glaucoma. This method has its limitations, in that it assumes uniform birefringence and provides very limited information. It is believed that imaging the ganglion cell mosaic in vivo will fundamentally change the way glaucoma can be studied and diagnosed. Given that ganglion cells are transparent, usual intensity imaging methods fail to image this cell layer. OCT, that is an interferometric technique, has been used to image the layer boundaries, but no other structure within this layer.

In Year 8 the Rochester group will combine AO, the dual imaging technique developed in their lab, confocal ophthalmoscopy and phase visualization techniques such as DIC or dark-field in a new instrument. They expect that this combination will produce images of the ganglion cell layer similar to the one in figure II.40, where individual cells can be resolved. The imaging will rely on the AO to simultaneously improve the high-resolution photoreceptor and ganglion layer images and on the image registration from the photoreceptor layer to register a high number of images (>1000) to accumulate enough photons to produce a clinically useful image.

Figure II.40 – In vitro image of a non-human primate ganglion cell layer formed using a DIC conventional mi- croscope in reflection mode.

− − 64

Image photoreceptors in retinitis pigmentosa. After imaging photoreceptors in the normal rat retina, Rochester will attempt to image fluorescently labeled photoreceptors in P23H or TgN S334ter-4 transgenic rat models of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in Y8. The BRP instrument will track photoreceptor loss in the same RP rats over time to provide the first in vivo assessment of the disease model in these animals. The photoreceptors in these animals will be tagged with a green fluorescent protein molecule (eGFP) to assist in photoreceptor imaging using fluorescence. These measurements will be correlated with estimates of photoreceptor loss determined from histology and with functional changes as measured by the electroretinogram. Photoreceptor counts will also be compared to photoreceptor counts in normal rats to determine the rate of photoreceptor drop-out relative to normal, unaffected animals. The BRP grant supports the science and the non-AO engineering involved in this study. CfAO support is required to maintain the expertise in adaptive optics technology at Rochester to perform these experiments.

Plans at Iris AO. Research over the next year will shift to DM packaging in order to increase reliability. Work will continue on efforts to increase DM stroke by optimizing the post processing Iris AO does. Iris AO is beginning to deliver DMs to researchers around the globe and working closely with these groups. They will foster these relationships to develop new partnerships.

Plans at Boston Micromachines. A principal goal of this research will be to develop long stroke MEMS deformable mirrors suitable for use in ophthalmic adaptive optics. They will be designed to permit diffraction-limited retinal imaging through dilated pupils in greater than 90% of the human population. Electrostatic actuators designed and manufactured in previous research will be used as a foundation for these MEMS-DMs, which will be produced in using silicon wafer batch- manufacturing. Based on prior research, it is estimated compensation of aberrations of the eye will require up to 16μm of wavefront compensation (with focus compensated before MEMS-DM correction). Because mirror deformation is doubled in the wavefront by reflection, this will require a DM with at least 8μm of stroke at each actuator.

The aim of this program is to design and fabricate actuator arrays to produce a MEMS-DMs capable of 8μm of stroke. All designs will include an actuator with a 16μm electrostatic gap, split- electrodes, extended actuator span, thinner actuator membrane and membrane perforations to increase actuator compliance. Table II.2 lists the expected characteristics of these actuator arrays. Table II.2. Expected actuator characteristics

Phase I Actuator Array Characteristics

Number of actuators/array 140

Actuator pitch 550μm

Actuator stroke
8μm

Maximum actuation voltage 100-250V

Aperture (140 element array) 6mm

− − 65 12

10

8

6

4

Displacement, um 2

0 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 Voltage, V

Figure II.41 Electromechanical performance prediction for the proposed MEMS DM actuator using split- electrodes, actuator membrane perforations, extended span, and a 16μm actuator gap. Greater than 8μm of mechanical stroke can be achieved.

− − 66 Section III - EDUCATION Educational Objectives The mission of the CfAO EHR program is to use the Center’s unique resources as a catalyst for institutional and cultural changes that encourage greater diversity in the workforce related to CfAO fields. A range of programs focused on this mission has been developed and implemented. The impact of CfAO EHR activities is measured by our success in each of four interwoven strategies:
TOOLS. Implement activities and programs that broaden access to CfAO related fields.
PRACTICES. Involve CfAO members in CfAO EHR programs and activities, and more specifically in educational practices that broaden participation.
PARTNERSHIPS & LINKAGES. Develop linkages and partnerships that broaden participation in the CfAO and CfAO sites.
PEOPLE. Advance under-represented students participation in ways that will broaden their participation of the CfAO and CfAO fields.

Performance and Management Indicators The CfAO measures short-term and long-term success by identifying criteria in the four major areas and monitoring progress as follows:

TOOLS. Implement activities and programs that broaden access to CfAO related fields.
Programs developed, implemented, and documented
Activities (within programs or stand-alone) developed, implemented, and documented
Courses developed, implemented, and documented
Progress in sustaining programs, activities, and courses beyond CfAO Year 10
Publication of new knowledge learned from programs, activities or courses
New educational pathways stimulated by, or spun off of, programs, activities, or courses

PRACTICES. Involve CfAO members in CfAO EHR programs and activities, and more specifically in educational practices that broaden participation.
Number of CfAO members involved in CfAO EHR
Number of CfAO members that incorporate new teaching or mentoring strategies into their practice
Number of CfAO graduate students and postdocs who implement inquiry based teaching strategies
Number of CfAO graduate students and postdocs who move into faculty positions, and incorporate inquiry based teaching strategies
Number of new research proposals that include EHR components due to affiliations with CfAO
Number of communications that include research and EHR

PARTNERSHIPS & LINKAGES. Develop linkages and partnerships that broaden participation in the CfAO and CfAO sites.
Linkages between CfAO sites and organizations that serve significant numbers of students from underrepresented groups
New pathways that broaden access to CfAO and CfAO related fields
Joint activities, programs, and courses developed and implemented by CfAO and organizations that serve students from underrepresented groups

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New mechanisms for engaging relevant communities in the CfAO and CfAO related fields

PEOPLE. Broaden participation of CfAO and CfAO fields by advancing students from underrepresented groups.
Number of underrepresented undergraduates participating in CfAO activities (research and education)
Number of underrepresented undergraduates retained in STEM
Number of underrepresented undergraduates advanced into CfAO, and CfAO related, graduate programs
Number of underrepresented graduate students participating in CfAO activities (research and education)

Problems Encountered Reaching Education Goals The primary challenge faced by the education theme is to transition successful activities into sustainable programs. Significant effort has been made in regard to this in Year 7, and will continue in the coming year. The activities developed by the education theme are interwoven and much of their success we believe arises from their being part of an integrated overall education program. Each of the activities has a high potential for continued funding, but core funding for the leadership of a cohesive, focused program is more difficult to obtain. Our priority is on obtaining long-term institutional funds.. Gaining institutional support has necessitated significant time allocated to meeting with administrators and aligning with local needs and politics. Progress has been made on many fronts, and we are increasingly confident that we will be able to reach our goal of establishing an educational legacy that goes far beyond the life of our NSF Center funding.

The Center's Internal Educational Activities Professional Development Workshop Activity Name Annual Professional Development Workshop Led by Lisa Hunter and Barry Kluger-Bell Intended Audience CfAO graduate students and postdoctoral researchers; also some scientists and education partners

Approx Number of 40 Attendees (if appl.) http://cfao.ucolick.org/EO/PDWorkshop/ http/::cfao.ucolick.org:EO:PDWorkshop:

Goals: 1) Develop inquiry-based teaching skills in graduate students and postdoctoral researchers 2) Facilitate the incorporation of inquiry based teaching strategies in CfAO EHR programs 3) Develop partnerships and collaborations within the scientific, technical and educational community of Hawaii. 4) Build a community of practice amongst graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.

Project Description: The CfAO Professional Development Workshop is an annual event that brings together graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and education partners for an intensive week of activities on teaching and learning science. Workshop participants compare

− − 68 hands-on approaches to teaching, engage their own personal inquiry experience, and participate on an inquiry design team. Participants also present their research to the Maui technical and educational community through the Maui High Tech Industry Education Exchange.

Participants may return to the workshop for multiple years, to gain a deeper understanding of inquiry, and to take on leadership roles with direct mentoring by workshop staff. In 2004 these leadership roles were formalized and returning participants were matched in roles depending upon their past experiences and their desired interest in developing new skills. The roles are now formalized as follows: inquiry co-facilitator, inquiry shadower, discussion group leader, design team leader, and assessment activity leader. A detailed description of roles for returning participants is available at: http://cfao.ucolick.org/EO/PDWorkshop/roles.php.

Fig. III.1 A participant at the Professional Development Workshop investigates puzzling optics phenomena during the “optics inquiry.”

Participation in the Professional Development Workshop on its own can be a very beneficial experience. However, the follow-up teaching experience in one of CfAO’s “teaching labs” can be a transformative experience. We have developed many opportunities for workshop participants to pilot their new teaching skills, and then reflect on their experience with peers. The combination of the workshop and the teaching experience has led to the development of many new inquiry activities and a cadre of reflective science teachers with proficiency in inquiry based teaching approaches.

Outcomes: Immediate responses to the workshop are determined through a post-workshop survey. A complete summary of the findings is available in a report prepared by our external evaluator, Julie Shattuck and Associates, at: http://cfao.ucolick.org/EO/PDWorkshop/strategic.php. One of the most significant gains reported by participants was the pre/post shift in how they felt about their abilities to construct an inquiry activity. Before the Workshop, only 29% reported having “some” or “a great deal” of capacity to create an inquiry lesson. At the conclusion of the Workshop, this number rose to 87% (see Figure III.2,).

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Fig III.2 Workshop participants’ pre/post ratings of their capacity to design an inquiry activity for a teaching situation

After returning from the workshop, an increasing number of participants design new inquiry activities and/or teach an inquiry-based instructional activity. Workshop staff observes activities, reviews lesson plans, and debriefs instructors to learn about how they incorporated inquiry into their activities. The following inquiry activities were all designed by teams of workshop participants and taught in 2005-2006:

Variable star project and inquiry activity (Stars, Sight and Science)
Galaxy Project (Stars, Sight and Science)
Planetary Nebula Project
Color, Light and Spectra (Mainland Internship Short Course)
Color and Light, version 2 (Akamai Short Course)
Color and Light (Hartnell Short Course)
Color, Light and Spectra (Akamai Observatory Short Course)
Table Top Optics (Stars, Sight and Science)
Camera Obscura (Akamai Short Course)
Lenses and Refraction (Akamai Short Course)
Galaxy Research Projects (Hartnell & UCSC Saturday Open Lab)
Visual Illusions (COSMOS)
Three Kinds of Hands on Science – Foam (Ed 212)
Three Kinds of Hands on Science – Streams (Cal Teach)
Retinal Anatomy ("speed inquiry")
Research Practices session (Mainland Internship Short Course)
Marine Ecology Inquiry (COSMOS, Marine Ecology Course)

− − 70 The Center's External Educational Activities Stars, Sight, and Science Program Activity Name Stars, Sight, and Science Program Led by Lisa Hunter Intended Audience Primary audience: 8-10 graduate students and postdocs developing new teaching skills Secondarily: 15-18 underrepresented high school students Approx Number of Graduate students & postdocs: (8-10)/year Attendees (if appl.) High school students: (15-18)/year

GOAL: Stars, Sight, and Science, has two major goals: 1) Develop a learning environment where scientists have the opportunity to implement new, inquiry-based and problem-based teaching, mentoring, and assessment strategies; 2) Motivatethe high school participants to prepare themselves to pursue a STEM degree (2-year or 4-year) at college.

Project Description: The four-week summer immersion experience includes three coordinated courses on vision science, astronomy, and science communication developed by CfAO:
Astronomy Today: Observing the Universe
Human Vision: Photons, Proteins, and Perception
Transferable Skills

This program is offered in conjunction with the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) program at UCSC. Beginning in Year 5, the COSMOS program has agreed to cover the majority of costs for Stars, Sight and Science, which is a measure of the institutional commitment to this successful program. The CfAO now covers a small percentage of CfAO staff time and the costs associated with bringing in instructors from remote CfAO sites.

Stars, Sight, and Science focuses on middle to high achieving underrepresented5 students, providing them with interdisciplinary, inquiry based experiences, and small group projects led by graduate student advisors. The instructional team includes lead instructors, project advisors, guest instructors, and a high school science teacher. The program uses adaptive optics as a starting point to foster an interest in related fields, such as vision science, astronomy, engineering, and advanced instrumentation.

The Stars, Sight and Science program is one of CfAO’s “teaching labs.” All instructors and most project advisors attend the Professional Development Workshop to learn about inquiry-based teaching and develop their own inquiry activities. The instructional team has incorporated inquiry into laboratory activities and projects that have a basis in both vision science and astronomy.

5 Underrepresented minorities defined here as Hispanic, African American, Native American, Pacific Islander.

− − 71

Fig. III.3 COSMOS students visiting Professor Austin Roorda’s lab during a field trip to the UC Berkeley School of Optometry.

Outcomes The Stars, Sight and Science program has become an extremely valuable teaching laboratory for CfAO graduate students and postdocs. Through the program, we have developed and taught a range of new inquiry-based instructional materials.

Inquiry design and practice in Stars, Sight and Science To illustrate the integration of inquiry into Stars, Sight and Science, two activities are described below: 1) Galaxy Project and 2) Table Top Optics.

Galaxy Project This project utilizes elements of inquiry to teach students about galaxies, and has been reported on by graduate student Scott Seagroves. Through an inquiry activity, students learn about the color and shape of galaxies. This inquiry starts with students looking at a set of high-resolution images of galaxies spanning morphology and environment. As they study the images they are encouraged to raise “I notice” or “I wonder” type questions. Students came up with questions like “the top galaxy is like the bottom one, except that it has that yellow part coming off. Why?” or “Why are some very blue and some very red or yellow?” or “Why do some look like they are rotating, like a tornado?” or “Maybe a bigger galaxy sucked in a smaller one?”

As the investigative portion of the project progressed, students developed their own galaxy classification scheme to organize what they were observing. They read texts and web pages looking for basic facts about galaxy components and terminology. At the appropriate moment, the Hubble classification system was introduced and compared to those they had developed. Throughout the process there were mini-lectures, synthesis, dialog and re-questioning. In this activity, students experienced discovery by assembling components of “knowns” rather than determining the fundamentals by first hand investigations, as one might with topics such as basic optics.

The Galaxy Project opened up new lines of thinking within the CfAO as to how inquiry can be applied to astronomy. In 2004, the “Planetary Nebula Project” was developed with help from the Galaxy Project team.

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Table Top Optics Inquiry

This inquiry was designed in 2001, and has been used each year since, with new inquiry facilitators rotated in to gain experience in the tools and strategies for teaching with inquiry. An excerpted description of the Lynne Rashke’s Table Top Optics Inquiry appears in Box 1

∞ BOX 1: Excerpt from Lynne Raschke’s Activity Documentation of Table Top Optics

Content Goals: Our students’ prior knowledge of optics varied dramatically. Some of our students had no exposure to topics in optics while others had a significant introduction to it in physics classes. Because of this wide variety in background knowledge, we found it helpful to create a tiered set of content objectives. It was our hope that all students would understand the content at the first tier, many students would grasp the second tier content material and a few of the more advanced students would understand the material at the highest tier.

Our first tier content objectives consisted of understanding: the way lenses and mirrors bend the path of light; the difference between diverging and converging beams of light; and the different way convex and concave optical elements affect beams of light.
Our second tier content objectives consisted of understanding: the concept of focal point; the way a convex lens forms images (including the process of image inversion); and the relationship between magnification and the distance to the image plane.
Our third and final tier content objectives consisted of understanding: the relationship between the curvature of the lens and the focal point; the derivation of the law of reflection; and the phenomenon of total internal reflection.

Process Goals: Our process objectives were based on the skills we hoped our students would learn and utilize during the rest of COSMOS. They included: the ability to be self-motivated in exploring phenomena; the ability to generate questions; the ability to generate hypotheses and test them; and the ability to communicate clearly through presentations to their peers.

Activity:
Inquiry Starters: Students rotate through four different stations spending 20 minutes at each station exploring optical phenomena, and generating questions
Question Sorting: While students take a break, instructors sort questions into major areas that will naturally lead into investigations related to the content goals. A few sample questions from a couple of themes are: o Bending Light: Why when you put both the convex and concave glass pieces together the light comes out as if it was never changed? o Laser Light Path: Why is the light bent when aimed through the prism? o Image Size: How come when you use a fat lens and a thin lens you get a huge F? o Focusing Images: Why does the image disappear when you put two same lenses in front of each other?
Focused investigations: students form small teams and carry out their own investigations to answer their own question
Presentation and synthesis: All investigation teams present the results of their investigations. One of the inquiry facilitators ties all the investigations together, validating the contributions of each team, clarifying any unresolved issues and summarizing the content goals.

− − 73 Dissemination: A publication6, describing the overall COSMOS program includes a special 2-page section on CfAO entitled: “A special partnership: CfAO Stars, Sight, and Science.”

Summary of Professional Development Activities for Center Students 1. Annual Professional Development Workshop – The workshop (more fully described in Section III) builds teaching, collaborative teamwork, communication, and other skills. 2. Summer School on Adaptive Optics – Courses are intended to convey the scope and application of adaptive optics to research. This is a professional development course for both astronomers and vision scientists. See description in Knowledge Transfer section. 3. Center retreats and workshops – Center students have multiple opportunities each year to participate in Center retreats and workshops, with many opportunities for presenting their research. Our industry affiliates program meets at our retreats and is an excellent venue for students to make contacts in industry.

Mainland Internship Program

Activity Name Four Year and Community College Internships Led by Lisa Hunter Intended Audience Undergraduates, primarily from underrepresented groups, with an emphasis on community college students Approx Number of 10-15 each year Attendees (if appl.)

Web link: http://cfao.ucolick.org/EO/internshipsnew/mainland/

The Mainland Internship program provides research experiences for community college and 4- year university students, with an emphasis on students from underrepresented groups. Students are placed at CfAO sites and work intensively on an authentic research project under the guidance of a CfAO advisor (faculty member or senior scientist) and supervisor (often a graduate student or postdoc). Interns are integrated into the research team gaining an in-depth knowledge of the research subject, as well as professional skills and an expanded network. Throughout the internship, communication is an ongoing theme. At the end of the summer, interns give a ten- minute formal oral presentation. For many students this is their first experience in presenting at this level, so we have implemented a set of activities that give students all the resources they need to deliver a high quality, professional presentation. Our survey of past interns indicates that the preparation and delivery of the oral presentation is one of the most valuable elements of the program.

A unique element of the Mainland Internship Program is our five-day short course that precedes the research experience. The goal of this course is to establish a community among the students; prepare them for the research environment; orient them to the CfAO; and teach them some of the background necessary for a successful experience in the multi-disciplinary environment CfAO. The short course prepares students for their coming research experience through a set of inquiry activities, laboratories, lectures, discussions, and small team problem solving. Topics include astronomy, vision science, engineering, research practices, and preparation for graduate school.

6 C. Moran, J. Roa, B.K. Goza, and C.R. Cooper, Success by Design: Creating College-Bound Communities (UC Santa Cruz EPC, Santa Cruz, CA), pp. 85-100.

− − 74 The short course was developed by CfAO graduate students and has now become a model for three other short courses. The Mainland Short Course is one of CfAO’s “teaching labs,” providing opportunities for piloting new inquiry based teaching activities.

Fig. III.4 Mainland Interns using spectrographs during the “Color, Light and Spectra” inquiry.

Outcomes: Summary of accomplishments
The CfAO now has 3 graduate students who are from underrepresented minority groups. These graduate students are actively engaged in CfAO funded research. This represents a significant increase, as the CfAO had not in the past had any underrepresented minority graduate students.
The CfAO has significantly impacted the diversity of the UCSC Electrical Engineering Department: Three of the seven underrepresented minorities in the EE graduate program are from the CfAO (total of 53 graduate students in EE).
At least 91% (50 of 55) of interns in the program are on track, remaining enrolled in a STEM program of study or entering the STEM workforce
11 interns have now entered STEM graduate programs, and 8 of these are from underrepresented minority groups
2 more interns will enter STEM graduate programs in 2006, and 1 of these is from underrepresented minority groups
The Hartnell Astronomy Short Course taught is a successful recruitment tool, with 2 students from the course accepted into the 2005 and 2006 Mainland Internship Program. Hartnell has awarded the CfAO the Hartnell President’s Partnership Award.
Our partnership with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) awarded the CfAO an additional $25,000 in 2004, $37,500, in 2005 and 2006 for student support. HACU recruited 5 of the 9 students in the 2005 Mainland Program, and 4 of the 11 in 2006.

Mainland Internship Program: Goals GOAL #1: To retain and advance college students from underrepresented and/or underserved groups in STEM, by enhancing their skills, resources and confidence in CfAO related fields. Students in the Mainland Internship Program are tracked over their career through emails and surveys that go out at least twice per year. A successful outcome is graduation with a Bachelor’s degree and then either graduate school or workforce entry. Workforce entry includes any position in science, engineering or technology, including science or math education.

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Table 3.1 shows the status of the 55 interns who completed the program between 2002-2005. At this time, 36 students are currently enrolled in a STEM program. Fifteen students have graduated with degrees in a STEM area. Our current STEM retention rate (those still on track as undergraduates, graduate students, or in the workforce) is at least 91%. It should be noted that this retention rate is not a final retention rate, as students are still enrolled, some at the community college level. Our goal is for 75% of our students to complete Bachelor’s degrees and be retained in STEM.

Table III.1: Status of Mainland Interns as of 4/30/05 BA/BS STEM PATH A. B. C. D. E. G. H. I. J. L. Enrolled Left Switc Eligible Accepted BA/BS In Entered Working On Number under- college hed to to apply to grad earned grad STEM in non- STEM grad in w/o non- to grad school school workforc STEM path* STEM degree STE school in e M STEM Men 21 14 0 0 4 2 4 5 1 0 20( 95%) (38%) Women 34 22 3 0 7 1 11 6 2 1 30 (88%) (62%)

Under-rep 38 26 1 0 8 2 9 8 2 0 36 (95%) minority (69%) Other 17 10 2 0 3 1 6 3 1 1 14 (82%) ethnicity (31%)

TOTAL 55 36 3 0 11 3 11 11 3 1 37-40 (86- 93%)

Under-rep 52 group (95%) (women or minority) Not 3 (5%) under-rep * L=A + H + I.

Mainland Intern Graduate School Entry The CfAO has strived to increase the diversity of Center graduate students, and has found this to be an extremely challenging goal. Shortly after the Center’s commencement in 1999, we had only one graduate student from an underrepresented minority group. However, the student was not significantly involved in Center activities, such as retreats, workshop, or the Professional Development Workshop and did not complete a doctoral program, as had been the intention, leaving with a Master’s degree.

The Mainland Internship Program provides a pool of prospective students for our graduate programs, and reflects our “grow your own” strategy. During the selection process, special attention is given to those students who have the academic qualifications and interests to enter graduate school. After running the program for several years, and a great deal of mentoring and advising, we are now seeing the Mainland Interns begin to enter graduate school. We now have eleven students in graduate school, eight who are underrepresented minorities and two of whom are women:

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Oscar Azucena, UC Santa Cruz, Electrical Engineering, Entered F2005, Cota-Robles Fellow, currently working on CfAO funded research in MEMS
Carlos Cabrera Andres, UC Santa Cruz, Electrical Engineering, Entered F2005, currently working at the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics
Donald Cox, UC Santa Barbara, Computer and Electrical Engineering, Entered F2003
Rigo Dicochea, UC Santa Cruz, Electrical Engineering, Entered F2005
Bautista Fernandez, UC Santa Cruz, Electrical Engineering doctoral program, Entered F2004, currently working on CfAO funded research in MEMS
Kerry Highbarger, Optical Engineering, Ohio State, Entered F2004
Maribel Huerta, University of Houston, School of Optometry, Entered F2005
Monica Pinon, UC Berkeley, School of Optometry, Entered F2005
Jacyln Plandowski, Electromagnetics, UC Los Angeles, Entered F2005
Danielle Robbins, Arizona State University, Mathematics, Entered S2006
Amanda Young, Virginia Tech, Applied Math, Entered F2004.

In addition we know of 11 students who will be graduating this June, and 3 have been accepted into graduate programs. The students who have been accepted are:
Alex Gittens, California Institute of Technology, Applied Math, Entering F2006
Spencer Krautkraemer, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Law, Entering F2006
Conswela White, Old Dominion University, Math, Entering F2006

GOAL #2: To develop linkages and partnerships that will broaden participation in CfAO related fields.

Partnerships have been established with the following organizations:

Hartnell College, Salinas, California (see section 3.4 below, “Hartnell Astronomy Short Course”)

Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) HACU provided full financial support, including administrative costs for a total of $8,000 each, for two interns in each of the years 2004-2006. They also assist in student recruitment.

GOAL #3: To incorporate inquiry-based teaching into CfAO related fields, by providing a “teaching lab” for newly trained instructors to gain experience and to pilot instructional material. The Mainland Short Course was taught by 3 CfAO graduate students in 2005: Joy Martin (Univ. of Houston Optometry School), Jason Melbourne (UCSC graduate student) and Shelley Wright (UCLA graduate student). Assistance with the Vision Science activities was provided by a former Mainland Intern, Monica Pinon (UCB Optometry School). All 3 instructors attended the CfAO Professional Development Workshop to prepare for inquiry-based teaching. The following inquiry-based activities were integrated into the Mainland Short Course:

Color, Light and Spectra Inquiry Facilitated by Jason Melbourne (UCSC), Shelley Wright (UCSC) and Lynne Raschke (UCSC)
Retinal Anatomy Inquiry
Facilitated by Joy Martin (Houston) and Monica Pinon (UCB)
Data Analysis Interpretation Activity
Facilitated by Jason Melbourne (UCSC) and Shelley Wright (UCLA)

− − 77 This year the Mainland Short Course instructional team is: Mark Ammons (Lead, UCSC astronomy graduate student), Ethan Rossi (UC Berkeley Vision science graduate student), Oscar Azucena (past intern and UCSC EE graduate student), Bautista Fernandez (UCSC EE graduate student) and Elise Laird (UCSC astronomy post doc). All five instructors have attended the Professional Development Workshop. There, a new inquiry on engineering was developed and will be piloted this summer at the Mainland Short Course. Akamai Maui Internship Program

Activity Name Four Year and Community College Internships Led by Lisa Hunter Intended Audience Hawaii-based undergraduates, primarily from underrepresented groups, with an emphasis on community college students Approx Number of ~12 per year Attendees (if appl.)

Web link: http://cfao.ucolick.org/EO/internshipsnew/akamai/index.php The CfAO Akamai Internship is the outcome of a long-term investment in CfAO Hawaii partnerships. The internship brings together stakeholders from the Maui and Big Island communities with the common goal of increasing the participation of Hawaiians in CfAO related science and technology, and increasing the capacity of Maui Community College (MCC) to incorporate adaptive optics related technology into academic program offerings.

Akamai Optics Short Course Akamai Interns are prepared for their research experience through the CfAO Optics Short Course, a 5-day intensive modeled after the Mainland Internship Short Course. This course is taught by CfAO graduate students and postdocs, and a MCC faculty member. The Short Course gives students a general background in optics and scientific processes through a set of inquiry based activities supplemented by lectures. In addition, internship hosts give a short talk on their work and what their assigned intern will doing for a research project. Akamai interns receive credit for the Short Course through MCC. Also see: http://cfao.ucolick.org/EO/internshipsnew/shortcourses/mauisc.php.

Research Experience The Akamai Interns are placed at high tech industry sites (primarily the federal contractors for the Air Force) and astronomical observatories. The following organizations hosted interns in 2003- 2005 and will be encouraged to participate again in future years:

Boeing Trex Akimeka Oceanit Maui High Performance Computing Pacific Disaster Center Center (MHPCC) Textron Northrop Grumman General Dynamics Institute for Astronomy

Akamai interns present their summer research at an AMOS Student Session held within the AMOS Technical Conference on Maui each September. The AMOS Student Session began in 2003 as a collaboration between CfAO, the Maui Economic Development Board, and the Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site (AMOS). This session fosters collaboration between the technical and educational communities of Maui, and provides students with an opportunity to experience a professional conference. Family and other community members are

− − 78 invited to attend the student symposium, and we anticipate that this community participation will be better informed on technology issues and supportive of technologies in use on Haleakala.

Outcomes: Summary of accomplishments:
At least 89% (24 of 27) are on track (enrolled in a science or tech program or working in a science or tech field)
At least 43% (13 of 27) of the interns are working in technical positions, 1 part-time and still enrolled in a technical major in college; 12 working full-time.
Akamai interns are working at the following Maui organizations: Oceanit, Textron, MHPCC, HC&S, Oceanic Cable, and Cedric D.O. Chong & Associates, Spirent communications, PMRF.
6 students have now transferred to 4-year institutions, from a community college
2 students are now in graduate school.
The CfAO and Maui Community College were awarded $40,000 to develop a new astronomy course with AO components.
The CfAO has implemented a new AMOS Student Session, held within the AMOS Technical Conference established in 2003 and held every year since.

Akamai Internship Goals GOAL #1: To retain and advance college students from underrepresented and/or underserved groups in STEM, by enhancing their skills, resources and confidence in CfAO related fields.

To date, 27 students have completed the program, 13 are currently working in technical positions (full-time (12) and part-time but still enrolled (1). Two students are in graduate school.

Table III.2 Status of Akamai Maui Interns, as of 5/1/06 A. B. C. Work E. Undergrad F. G. H. Full I. In grad Enrolled Received PT & in STEM at Undergrad Received Time in school # % in Comm.. AA/AS enrolled four year inst. in non- BA/BS STEM College STEM workforce Men 20 74% 3 4 0 4 0 2 8 1 Women 7 26% 0 1 1 2 0 0 4 1

Native Hawaiian 6 22% 0 1 0 1 0 1 4 0 Underrep minority (not Hawaiian) 9 33% 0 3 1 1 0 0 4 0 Other ethnicity 12 44% 2 1 0 4 0 1 4 2

Total 27 2 5 2 6 0 2 12 2

Underrep minority (Hawaiian and other) 15 56% Underrep group (Women or minority) 19 70% 1 3 1 3 0 1 6 2

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GOAL #2: To develop linkages and partnerships that will broaden participation in CfAO related fields. The following partners have been established:

Maui Economic Development Board The Maui Economic Development Board collaborates on all aspects of the Akamai Maui Internship. They liaise with industry hosts, and are invaluable as our local program arm. Leslie Wilkins serves on the advisory committee, and is involved in all design and decision-making.

Maui Community College Maui Community College (MCC) is involved in all aspects of the Akamai Maui Internship. Mark Hoffman (ECET), John Pye (astronomy), Wallette Pellegrino (Cooperative Education) are on the program advisory committee and are directly involved in all decisions, including program design, student recruitment and selection, coordination with industry hosts, and program completion. In addition the program has benefited from the strong support of Chancellor Clyde Sakamoto and Dean Suzette Robinson. MCC offers credit for the Akamai Optics Short Course through the Electronics and Computer Engineering Technology program.

Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site The Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site (AMOS) provide crucial local support, encouraging federal contractors to participate in the program. AMOS provides facility tours during the short course, and beginning in 2003 supported a new Student Session at their annual AMOS Technical Conference. Each year 4-6 Akamai interns make presentations at the conference.

New Activities with Maui Partners: 1. Development of a New Astronomy Lab Course (John Pye). MCC, MEDB and the CfAO were awarded a $40,495 grant from the Center for Biophotonics (via NSF funds). This grant funded the development of a new astronomy lab course at MCC. During the grant period the new course was designed, submitted for curriculum review, and will be taught for the first time in Fall 2006.

2. New Adaptive Optics hardware and Curriculum (Mark Hoffman). Mark Hoffman led an effort to build an adaptive optics demonstrator with associated software, including image post processing. This will be used in the astronomy lab course (above), the Akamai Short Course, and eventually a new electronics course currently in the planning stage. The demonstrator is on long-term loan to MCC, with the intent of permanent transfer to MCC in a year or so (once it is established as useful and integrated into MCC programs).

GOAL #3: To incorporate inquiry-based teaching into CfAO related fields, by providing “teaching lab” for newly trained instructors to gain experience and pilot instructional material. The Akamai Maui Short Course uses a range of inquiry-based teaching activities, and has provided a number of graduate students and postdocs teaching opportunities. The following activities were incorporated into the 2005 course, and were facilitated by Sarah Martell (Lead, UCSC graduate student), Andy Sheinis (UCSC post doc), Mark Ammons (UCSC graduate student), Karrie Gilbert (UCSC graduate student), and Mark Hoffman (MCC, faculty member):

Color, Light and Spectra Inquiry
Camera Obscura and Sun Shadows Inquiry

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Lenses and Refraction
Photodiode/Detector Activity
Wave Front Sensor Activity

The Akamai Optics Short Course has served as a very productive curriculum piloting project. A new instructional module teaching the fundamentals of color and light was piloted in the short course and has now been integrated into the regular MCC physics course. Each November several CfAO members assist in teaching this inquiry based unit, providing formal classroom teaching experience to the CfAO members, and enhanced teaching capabilities for MCC. In November 2005, Candace Church (Astro Grad at UCSC) and Kathy Cooksey (Astro Grad at UCSC), traveled to MCC to facilitate the CLS inquiry in Hoffman’s course.

Hawaii Island Akamai Observatory Program Activity Name Hawaii Island Akamai Observatory Program Led by Akamai Observatory Short Course: Claire Max & Lisa Hunter Akamai Internship Program: Lisa Hunter Intended Audience Hawaii state residents attending college Approx Number of 10-12 annually in internship Attendees (if appl.) 15-18 in Akamai Observatory Short Course

The CfAO piloted the Hawaii Island Akamai Observatory Program in 2005, through a partnership with Mauna Kea Observatories, UH Hilo, and the Institute for Astronomy. After a successful summer in 2005, an intern cohort of 13 students has been selected for 2006.

A new part-time Internship Coordinator, Sarah Anderson, has been hired with the support of the CfAO and Keck. Sarah assists with student recruitment, finding and briefing intern advisors, coordinating the short course, and many other logistical details that have been essential in implementing a program on the Big Island.

The program includes the Akamai Observatory Short Course, and apprenticeships at Mauna Kea observatories, with a student symposium at the end of the program in July. Tables III.(3 and 4) show the organizations and advisors from 2005 and those confirmed for 2006. Thirteen students have been accepted: 4 from UH Hilo; 3 from UH Manoa; 3 from Hawaii CC; 2 Hawaii residents enrolled on the mainland and one Hawaii resident enrolled at a Scottish university. Information on the program can be found at: http://cfao.ucolick.org/EO/internshipsnew/bigislandintern.php.

Table III.3. 2005 Hawaii Island Akamai Observatory Hosts Site Host(s) # students Gemini Observatory DeOrgeville/Fisher 2 Subaru Observatory Colley/Guyon 2 Sub Millimeter Array Chitwood and Maute 2 Institute for Astronomy Chun 1 W. M. Keck Observatory Cambell/Nance/Chin/Conrad/Goodrich 4 Total 11

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Table III.4: 2006 Hawaii Island Akamai Observatory Hosts Site Host(s) # students Gemini Observatory Fisher/White 2 Subaru Observatory Colley/Ramos 2 Sub Millimeter Array Christenson/Chitwood 1 Institute for Astronomy Chun/Wantanabe 1 UH Hilo Fox/Hamilton/Asaoka 2 W. M. Keck Observatory Kwok/Kamisato/Van Dam/Campbell/Nance/Bell 5 Total 13

The Akamai Observatory Short Course (AOSC) is a sub-component of the Akamai Observatory Internship program. It is a five-day course that takes place in Hilo at IFA, in Waimea at Keck Observatory, with an overnight field trip to Hale Po’aku and the summit of Mauna Kea. The goals of the short course are to prepare students for observatory internships as well as act as a “learning lab” for CfAO graduate students and post docs to implement the inquiry techniques they learned in the Professional Development Workshop. The course is led by CfAO graduate students and post docs, CfAO education staff and Mauna Kea Observatory employees.

2005 AOSC Instructional Team David Le Mignant, Lead, Keck Observatory Astronomer Sarah Anderson, Keck Observatory employee Lisa Hunter, CfAO EHR associate Director Catherine Ishida, Subaru Researcher Malika Bell, CfAO Education Coordinator Kai Noeske, UCSC Astronomy Post doc Celine d’Ogreville, Gemini Mike McElwain, UCLA, Inquiry Lead Claire Max, CfAO Director

GOAL #1: To retain and advance college students from underrepresented and/or underserved groups in STEM, by enhancing their skills, resources and confidence in CfAO related fields.

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Table III.5. Status of Hawaii Island Akamai Interns

A. B. C. D. E. F. G. Enrolled in Received Undergrad Received Eligible to In Full Time Community AA/AS In STEM at BA/BS apply to graduate in STEM # % College since four year since graduate school or workforce internship institution internship school accepted for Fall 2006 Men 8 73% 1 0 4 1 3 2 1 Women 3 27% 0 0 2 1 1 0 1

Underrep Minority 3 27% 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 Other Ethnicity 8 73% 1 0 4 2 2 2 2

TOTAL 11 100% 1 0 6 2 4 2 2

Underrep group (Women or Minority) 5 45% 1 0 3 1 2 0 1

To date, 11 students have completed the program. All eleven are on track with the 7 undergraduate Akamai alumni enrolled full time in a STEM-related major, 2 currently working in technical positions full-time, 1 enrolled in graduate school and 1 planning to start graduate school in fall 2006.

\ GOAL #2: To incorporate inquiry-based teaching into CfAO related fields, by providing “teaching lab” for newly trained instructors to gain experience and pilot instructional material. In 2005, AOSC implemented an optics inquiry that was originally designed by Scott Severson and Lynne Raschke. After working together at the Professional Development Workshop in March, 2005, a new version of the inquiry was developed and facilitated by Mike McElwain, Sarah Anderson, Celine d’Ogreville, Kai Noeske and Catherine Ishida.

Mainland Courses Hartnell Astronomy Short Course

Activity Name Hartnell Astronomy Short Course Led by Anne Metevier & Lisa Hunter Intended Audience Community college students and high school seniors Approx Number of 15-20 annually Attendees (if appl.) Web link: http://cfao.ucolick.org/EO/internshipsnew/shortcourses/hartnellastronomy.php.

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A continuing Astronomy Short Course, The Distant Universe, was taught at Hartnell College, a local minority serving community college in June 2004 and August 2005. This course was aimed at entering and enrolled community college students. Dr. Anne Metevier is the lead on this project, and received an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship that includes her participation in the short course. A team of instructors assisted Anne in teaching this five-day intensive course, including, Pimol Moth (Hartnell astronomy faculty member), Andy Newton (Hartnell Planetarium Director), Candice Church (UCSC graduate student), Lindsey Pollack (UCSC graduate student), Jennifer Lotz (UCSC post doc) and a handful of others who assisted with selected activities. Anne has attended five CfAO Professional Development Workshops, and has used the experience to incorporate inquiry-based teaching into the short course in a variety of ways, making use of many of the previously designed CfAO instructional material (some developed by Anne) as well as developing new activities.

The Astronomy Research Inquiry, developed by a team led by Anne Metevier, was piloted at the Hartnell Astronomy Short Course in June 2005. It was facilitated by Anne Metevier, Jennifer Lotz, Candice Church, Lindsey Pollack and Pimol Moth who have all attended at least one CfAO Professional Development Workshop. Anne, Jennifer, Candice, Lindsey and Pimol were able to develop their newly acquired teaching techniques during this inquiry.

Students in the Astronomy Short Course receive 1 unit through the Physics Department. Details on The Distant Universe can be found at: http://cfao.ucolick.org/EO/internshipsnew/shortcourses/hartnellastronomy.php.

The Distant Universe” is scheduled this coming summer for July 31 – August 5, 2006. This years instructors are: Anne Metevier (Lead), Pimol Moth, Candice Church, Andy Newton, Kai Noeske, and Charles Hansen. The team plans to continue to incorporate the Astronomy Research Inquiry (that was piloted in 2005) into their curriculum once again this year.

One of the primary goals for the short course is to recruit Hartnell students for the CfAO intern, and establish a long-term pathway between Hartnell and UCSC. Table 4 shows the status of the short course attendees who applied to our internship, which we feel is very successful.

Table III.6: Status of Hartnell Short Course Attendees who applied to CfAO Internship

Attended Applied to Accepted to Internship Course Internship Internship Waiting List 2004 19 4 2 2 2005 12 3 2 1

Integrating Research and Education All our Center members have agreed to commit time to education. Considerable gains have been made in this area, and we continue to focus on involving members in meaningful activities that directly contribute to our educational goals. A few illustrative examples of how we have integrated research and education follow:

To date, 55 undergraduates have worked on CfAO related research (2002-2005 student cohorts).

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Fifteen high school students and one high school teacher participated in Stars, Sight and Science each year, a course on vision science, astronomy, and optics. A special session on adaptive optics was led by graduate students Jason Porter (Rochester).
CfAO graduate students and postdocs participate in the Maui technical and educational community, at the annual Maui High Tech Industry Education Exchange.
The CfAO has developed four new short courses covering CfAO related topics
CfAO members have developed many new inquiry-based instructional activities, including: o Variable star project and inquiry activity (Stars, Sight and Science) o Galaxy Project (Stars, Sight and Science) o Color and Light (Stars, Sight and Science) o Color, Light and Spectra (Mainland Internship Short Course) o Color and Light, version 2 (Akamai Short Course) o Table Top Optics (Stars, Sight and Science) o Camera Obscura (Akamai Short Course) o Lenses and Refraction (Akamai Short Course) o Photodiode Activity (Akamai Short Course) o Physiology of the Eye (Rochester Saturday Open Lab) o Color Vision Inquiry (Rochester Saturday Open Lab) o Visual Illusions (Stars, Sight and Science) o Retinal Anatomy (Mainland Internship Program) o Galaxy Research Project (Hartnell Short Course and UCSC Saturday Open Lab)

Plans for Year Eight Annual Professional Development Program This project will continue in the same general format, with an increasing emphasis on formalizing the role of returning participants. Participants in the program will be required to teach in one of CfAO programs or another approved teaching venue. Participants have gradually shifted to be broader in discipline areas, and this will continue with priority given to those students whose teaching interests closely align with building a long-term, sustainable program.

Stars, Sight and Science Stars, Sight and Science will be continued, with more development in the assessment of student learning. We will continue the strong link with the Professional Development Workshop, using it to develop instructional activities for Stars, Sight and Science. Stars, Sight and Science is transitioning from a CfAO to a UCSC program, and we will continue to take more steps toward its institutionalization within UCSC in the coming years.

Mainland Internship Program We have developed a strong internship program, which will be continued with minor refinements each year. A major focus in the coming years will be to contribute to the knowledge base on the impact of undergraduate research experiences. We are part of a new study, AScILS (Assessing Science Inquiry and Leadership Skills), which explores how students gain inquiry and leadership skills during research experiences, and how the development of those skills affects their educational and career progress.

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Akamai Maui Internship Program This internship program will continue in the same general structure, with refinements implemented each year. We are currently incorporating a writing element that is interwoven into the entire eight week experience. We will be strengthening the elements of the program preparing students for an industry environment, and developing a “more in depth” orientation for industry mentors. We will also incorporate broader recruitment to expand the application pool.

Hawaii Island Akamai Observatory Program Based on the success of the fully implemented pilot program in 2005, we will continue the program with a 20% time local coordinator. We have significantly increased the participation of Mauna Kea observatories this year and are very hopeful that this program will grow to be part of the observatory community outreach.

Hartnell Astronomy Short Course The first offering of the Hartnell Astronomy Short Course was very successful, and we will be continuing this course in the coming years. We will focus more effort on increasing the institutional support from Hartnell, and developing the academic pathway for Hartnell students to transfer to UCSC to study physics and astronomy.

− − 86 SECTION IV. KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

IV.1. Knowledge Transfer Objectives The knowledge transfer activities focus on enhancing the Center’s ability to fulfill its research and education goals as summarized in the CfAO mission statement: “To advance and disseminate the technology of adaptive optics in service to science, health care, industry, and education.” In Year 7, the CfAO has continued to emphasize knowledge transfer by employing strategies articulated in its mission statement:
Increasing the accessibility to AO by the scientific community
Coordinating and combining research efforts to take advantage of the synergies afforded by the Center mode of operations
Encouraging the interaction of vision scientists and astronomers to promote the emergence of new science and technology
Leveraging our efforts through industry partnerships and cross-disciplinary collaboration

In addition, specific objectives for knowledge transfer include: increasing national competence in AO within the scientific, medical, and industrial communities, and enhancing the cohesiveness of the AO technical community, particularly with respect to system performance characterization and optimization.

Performance and management indicators The indicators of the success of CfAO partnership activities in meeting our objectives include:
The number of CfAO workshops, and professional training activities that involve non- CfAO participants,
The level of attendance by non-CfAO personnel at the CfAO summer school,
The level of attendance by non-CfAO personnel at CfAO workshops,
The number of institutional members of the AO technical community engaged in the exchange of information concerning system performance and optimization.

IV.2. Problems An ongoing challenge for the CfAO knowledge transfer activity is the exchange of information with industry, both the dissemination of CfAO research results to a broad cross section of the industrial community, and the determination of industrial issues which might best be served by this research. Our strategy during the first 5 years of the Center was to invite a broad cross- section of industry participants to Center events, particularly our Center-wide retreats in the spring and fall of each year. The main goal of this involvement was to catalyze specific research collaborations with industrial partners. In Year 6, we began to concentrate on more specific collaborative activities with industry partners with whom we had established strong ties during the previous 5 years. This successful strategy has been carried forward in Year 7. Based on our experience in the first 6 years, we believe that strong collaborations with specific industry partners are most beneficial to both the industrial and academic participants. We continue to target new industrial partners in specific areas as appropriate. In addition, dissemination of research results to the industrial sector has been improved through several new conferences, topical meetings and panel discussions in areas such as MEMS and vision science. Nevertheless, we continue to view increasing involvement of industry participants in Center research as both a goal and a challenge.

− − 87 We have carried out a broad range of effective CfAO knowledge transfer activities during year 7. These activities are summarized in the following sections, along with future plans for the Center’s knowledge transfer program.

IV.3. Description of Knowledge Transfer Activities

Knowledge Transfer Activity CfAO summer school Led by Julian Christou Participants Organization Name and State 1 Multiple organizations (see below)

The CfAO holds an annual week-long Summer School on adaptive optics, in Santa Cruz CA. The target audience is graduate students and postdocs, but senior researchers are also welcome to attend. Emphasis is given to topics that are of interest to astronomers and vision scientists alike. Introductory and Advanced AO are presented in alternate years. Each year approx. 100 participants attend. In 2006, xx of those attending were graduate students, xx were post docs and xx were senior researchers.

Knowledge Transfer Activity Workshops Led by Multiple leaders (see below) Participants Organization Name and State 1 Multiple organizations (see below)

The CfAO sponsors workshops each year. These range from large formal sessions at international meetings to smaller special-topics discussions, Workshops in Year 7 included: 1. AO Summer School. 2. Spring Retreat 3. Fall Retreat … 4. “MEMS/MOEMS Components and Their Applications III - Special Focus Topic on Adaptive Optics” Meeting Chair Scot Olivier, Program Chairs Joel Kubby and Tom Bifano. Part of SPIE’s International Symposium on MOEMS-MEMS 2006 Micro and Nanofabrication, San Jose, CA, 21-27 January 2006. Approx. 100 participants 5. Short Courses – These are provided by the Education Theme and are detailed accounts are provided in Section 3. They include 5 day Optics short courses provided to interns on the Mainland, with similar courses provided separately to interns on Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii (the Akamai Interns). A new instructional module teaching the fundamentals of color and light was piloted in the Akamai short course and has now been integrated into the regular Maui Community College physics course. A continuing Astronomy Short Course, The Distant Universe, was taught at Hartnell College, a local minority serving community college in June 2004 and August 2005. This course was aimed at entering and enrolled community college students.

− − 88 Knowledge Transfer Activity AO test-bed for vision Led by David Williams Participants 1 Jay and Maureen Neitz, PhD Medical College of Wisconsin 2 Ed Stone, MD University of Iowa 3 Phillip Kruger SUNY School of Optometry Pablo Artal University of Murcia Bill Merigan University of Rochester Mina Chung University of Rochester Wayne Knox University of Rochester

A key goal of the CfAO is to make AO broadly accessible to the scientific and medical community. One way we have done this is by making the vision AO systems developed within the CfAO available to research groups outside the CfAO. The Rochester vision AO system has been used by at least 3 different research groups outside the CfAO in the past year. These include researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Murcia (Spain) and the University of Wisconsin.

Knowledge Transfer Activity AO Manual for vision science Led by Jason Porter Participants 1 Multiple organizations

The CfAO has completed a manual containing basic and detailed information on how to design, build, calibrate and implement adaptive optics systems for vision science applications. The manual was published by Wiley Interscience in Year 7. Multiple CfAO members in the vision science and astronomical communities contributed chapters for this book and/or served on the editorial board, which exemplifies the collaborative nature of CfAO.

IV.4. Other Knowledge Transfer Activities

The CfAO web site (http://cfao.ucolick.org) is an important vehicle for knowledge transfer. Information on the CfAO and AO in general is available at this web site, including research projects, education and human resources activities, membership, meetings, publications, distributed software, employment opportunities, and Claire Max’s AO graduate course (http://www.ucolick.org/~max/289C/ ).

The CfAO publishes a Newsletter that is broadly distributed to inform both internal institutions and external organizations about the highlights of CfAO activities and upcoming events.

The CfAO plays a leading role in the publication of scientific and technical articles on adaptive optics. A list of publications is maintained on the CfAO web site and appears at the end of this Report.

CfAO members play leadership roles in professional societies concerned with adaptive optics, serve on organizing committees for international professional conferences on adaptive optics, and present results of CfAO research. The CfAO Associate Director for Knowledge Transfer

− − 89 continues to serve as the Chair of the SPIE Technical Working Group on Adaptive Optics, which helps disseminate information on AO to the professional optics community, mainly through meetings held during selected major SPIE conferences.

One of our most effective knowledge transfer strategies has been the organization of coordinated national research efforts in key enabling technologies for adaptive optics. The CfAO currently supports coordinated research in MEMS deformable mirror technology, sodium laser guide star systems, and design concepts for AO systems on giant segmented mirror telescopes. Our MEMS effort involves a national consortium of more than a dozen universities, national laboratories, and industrial partners. Our laser development effort includes work on solid state crystal and fiber lasers, and involves at least 9 universities, national laboratories and industrial partners. The work on AO for giant segmented mirror telescopes has involved many CfAO institutions as part of the California Extremely Large Telescope (CELT) project as well as participation on the national GSMT (Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope) Science Working Group. An outcome of these activities was the merging of several efforts in the U.S. and Canada, including CELT, into the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project, which received a $35M grant from the Moore foundation for ongoing preliminary design work. The Director of the CfAO (now emeritus) was named as the Project Scientist for TMT, and CfAO members are the majority participants in the TMT AO Working Group, including the Chair of this group.

The University of Rochester and 4 partner institutions, including Indiana University, UC Berkeley, and LLNL, entered the fourth year of a 5-year, $10M NIH Bioengineering Research Partnership (BRP) to develop and test adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopes for clinical vision research and patient care. A team led by UC Davis, and including 2 CfAO member institutions, Indiana University and LLNL, entered the fourth year of a 5-year, $5M NIH BRP to develop and test instrumentation combining adaptive optics and optical coherence tomography for clinical vision research and patient care.

Collaborative program development has been a successful strategy for leveraging Center resources to enable research and development of adaptive optics beyond what would be possible with CfAO funding alone. This strategy is also a highly effective means of knowledge transfer since the new collaborative programs include participants both inside and outside the Center. The major collaborative program development activities in Year 7 were in the areas of ExAO, AO instruments for TMT, ophthalmic instrumentation and MEMS. For example, in the area of ExAO, the theme has been responsible for bringing together additional institutions in the US and Canada, including the Hertzberg Institute of Astrophysics, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Université de Montréal, to work on system design, technology development, simulation and modeling of ExAO systems for the Gemini Telescope and the Thirty Meter Telescope. A major outcome of this activity in Year 7 was the commencement of the $23.5M project to develop the ExAO system for Gemini.

In connection with the EHR Professional Development Workshop, in Year 7 a Community Networking Session was again cosponsored by local industrial organization in Maui. This session provided an opportunity for CfAO grad-students and post-docs to present information on CfAO research to both educational and industrial communities in Maui. An intern program for Hawaiians was continued in Year 7 with 24 interns (on both Maui and the Big Island.) A CfAO researcher in collaboration with Maui Community College faculty taught an introductory optics course to the interns prior to their taking up their internships at industrial locations in Maui and the Big Island. Other educational activities on Maui and the Big Island have been described in Section 4.3

− − 90 IV.5. Knowledge Transfer Activities - Future Plans We plan to maintain our program of information dissemination while enhancing particular aspects and incorporating new efforts. Continuing to enhance the CfAO web site through additional content and improved organization will be an area of emphasis. We will continue to encourage our researchers to publish in a timely mode in the peer reviewed literature. We are considering how to best follow the successful completion of the vision AO manual in Year 7 to produce a similar reference source for astronomical AO.

In vision science we are developing a new generation of portable vision science AO systems that will be taken directly to partner medical facilities, such as the Doheney Eye Institute at USC, for evaluation in a clinical environment. This will extend the scope of possible collaborative activities by accessing unique capabilities and conditions at the partner sites, while further broadening the reach of AO into the clinical community.

Specific areas of emphasis in collaborative program development in Year 8 will include AO for ophthalmic instrumentation, AO for giant segmented mirror telescopes, and MEMS development. We will also begin a joint developmental/seed project with the NSF Center for BioPhotonics Science and Technology at UC Davis in the application of AO to microscopy for in vitro biological research. In addition, the partnership with the Air Force Maui Optical Station that combines technical research and development with new education and human resource activities will continue to be developed in Year 8.

− − 91 SECTION V. EXTERNAL PARTNERSHIPS

V.1 Partnership Objectives

The fundamental objective of our partnership activities is to enhance the Center’s ability to fulfill its research and education goals. The CfAO is pursuing this objective through strategies articulated as part of its mission statement.
Leveraging our efforts through industry partnerships and cross-disciplinary collaborations
Encouraging the interaction of vision scientists and astronomers to promote the emergence of new science and technology In addition, specific objectives for partnerships include:
Stimulating further investment by government and industry sources in AO research and development
Catalyzing the commercialization of AO technologies leading to technological advancements relevant to CfAO research objectives and enabling broader use of AO.

Performance and management indicators The parameters used to measure the success of CfAO partnership activities in meeting our objectives include: 1) The number of partner institutions engaged in active collaboration with the Center, 2) The number and scope of CfAO projects involving cross-disciplinary collaborations, 3) The number and amount of additional investment by government and industry sources in AO research and development, 4) The number and scope of AO commercialization activities in which the CfAO plays a role, 5) The number of institutional members of the AO technical community engaged in the exchange of information concerning system performance and optimization.

V.2 Problems An ongoing challenge for CfAO partnership activities is the development of new industrial partnerships, particularly in areas involving highly competitive commercial markets, such as ophthalmic instrumentation. We are continuing to seek guidance on best practices in the commercialization of the type of medical imaging instrumentation being developed by the Center.

V.3 Description of Partnership Activities

Partnership Activity Development of Advanced Ophthalmic Instrumentation Led by David Williams Participants Name of Organization List Shared Resources Use of Resources (if any) 1 University of Rochester (Lead) Adaptive optics Demonstrate value scanning laser of AOSLO for ophthalmoscopes clinical and science use 2 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 3 University of California, Berkeley

− − 92 4 the Doheny Eye Institute at USC 5 Indiana University 6 Optos

CfAO’s PI at the University of Rochester is leading a NIH Bioengineering Research Partnership (BRP), which was awarded a 5-year grant in 2003 at the level of $10 million. Five partner institutions share the funds; these are the University of Rochester, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the University of California at Berkeley, the Doheny Eye Institute at USC, and Indiana University. The partnership is developing and assessing the value of adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopes for clinical vision research and patient care by studying the following: neovascularization in age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy; photoreceptors in retinal degenerative disease such as retinitis pigmentosa; ganglion cell bodies in glaucoma; individual retinal pigment epithelial cells; and blood flow in the smallest retinal capillaries. Four new scanning laser imaging instruments have been completed using MEMS- based adaptive optics developed by the CfAO. In a related development, the U.K. company, Optos, has made plans to incorporate adaptive optics in a wide field scanning laser ophthalmoscope using intellectual property held by Rochester and Houston. This licensing agreement has been signed in Year 7.

Partnership Activity Clinical testing of MEMS AO phoropter Led by Ian Cox Participants Name of Organization List Shared Use of Resources Resources (if any) 1 Bausch & Lomb (Lead) MEMS based Demonstrate clinical Adaptive Optics value of AO vision Phoropter correction 2 Unversity of Rochester 3 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 4 Sandia National Laboratory 5 Boston Micromachines Corporation 6 Wavefront Sciences

Based on activities sponsored by CfAO, in 2002 a collaborative team led by LLNL was awarded ~$2.7M over 2 years through the DOE Biomedical Engineering Program to develop and test clinical ophthalmic instruments using MEMS adaptive optics. In CfAO Year 4, the team completed the integration and testing of the first clinical prototype vision science instrument – a portable, MEMS-based adaptive optics phoropter, which an be used to measure and correct the high order aberrations in the human eye, thereby enabling the development of clinical procedures for prescribing new vision correction technologies for the permanent correction of high-order aberrations, such as custom laser refractive surgery and custom contact lenses. This instrument was selected for a 2003 R&D 100 award, through a program sponsored by the Chicago-based, R&D Magazine, which recognizes the 100 most technologically significant inventions in the U.S. each year. In CfAO Year 6, this instrument received an upgrade of the MEMS deformable mirror from Boston Micromachines to a version with increased dynamic range. This increase in dynamic range is crucial for clinical operability, and set the stage for clinical tests of the instrument, which have begun in Year 7 at Bausch & Lomb, under the direction of Ian Cox. Several companies have expressed an interest in potential commercialization of the MEMS-based adaptive optics phoropter. These include Carl Zeiss Meditec, Ciba Vision, Wavefront Sciences and Reichert, the company with the largest market share worldwide of the phoropter business.

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Partnership Activity Optical Coherence Tomography with Adaptive Optics Led by John Werner Participants Name of Organization List Shared Use of Resources Resources (if any) 1 UC Davis (Lead) Demonstrate the clinical utility of the combination of AO and optical coherence tomography (OCT) 2 LLNL 3 University of Indiana 4 Duke University, 5 Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc. 6 Doheny Eye Institute 7 Harvey Mudd College

Based on research activities initially sponsored by CfAO, UC Davis led a successful proposal in 2003 for a Bioengineering Research Partnership (BRP) Grant for $5 million over 5 years. The proposal focuses on demonstrating the combination of AO and optical coherence tomography (OCT). The clinical utility of this combination, which should enable high-resolution imagery of the living retina with extremely high contrast ratios, will be evaluated. Achieving the highest possible contrast ratios in three-dimensional retinal images is important for the accurate visualization of many clinically important structures in the retina that have intrinsically low scattering cross sections, such as ganglion cells, which are damaged by glaucoma. Joint recipients of the grant are UC Davis, LLNL, Indiana University. During the third year of this project, we have integrated AO systems using two deformable mirrors with two OCT systems at UC Davis and Indiana University, and have successfully imaged single cells in three dimensions. In a related activity, with support from the DOE Medical Sciences Division, CfAO researchers at LLNL have partnered with UC Davis and Harvey Mudd College to develop an OCT system withO for the Doheny Eye Institute at USC. This instrument was constructed in Year 7, and could be delivered to Doheny in Year 8.

Partnership Activity Micro-electro-mechanical systems Led by Scot Olivier, Don Gavel Participants Name of Organization List Shared Use of Resources Resources (if any) 1 A consortium, organized by the CfAO, to develop MEMS deformable mirror technology for adaptive optics for vision science and astronomy

The CfAO continues to support and coordinate the work at several universities (UC Berkeley, Boston University, UC Davis, Stanford University), national laboratories (LLNL, SNL, AFRL, JPL) and industrial partners (Lucent, Boston Micromachines, Cronos, Iris AO, AOptix, MicroAssembly Technologies) to develop MEMS deformable mirror technology for adaptive optics suitable for application to vision science and astronomy. In Year 7, Boston Micromachines 140-actuator mirrors with ~4 micron stroke are being used in 6 vision science instruments developed by CfAO partnership activities. Boston Micromachines is also continuing their CfAO-

− − 94 supported work on a device with 6 micron stroke. AOptix 37-actuator bimorph mirrors with a 10- mm clear aperture and ~15 micron stroke for focus correction are also in being used in year 7 in 3 of these vision science instruments in combination with the Boston Micromachines devices in order to increase the ease of use in a clinical environment. Many other partners continue to work on development of mirrors with high stroke. Furthermore, Boston Micromachines 1000-actuator mirrors are being tested in the ExAO test bed at the UCSC Laboratory for AO, where these devices have been flattened to less than 1 nm in the controlled spatial frequency range.

Partnership Activity Lasers Led by 1. Edward Kibblewhite; 2. Deanna Pennington Participants Name of Organization List Shared Resources Use of Resources (if any) 1 University of Chicago, Palomar Observatory, CalTech, JPL, Lite Cycles 2 LLNL, Nufern, Crystal Fibre in Denmark, PSI, Stanford

Under CfAO funding, the University of Chicago worked with Lite Cycles to produce improved solid state laser heads for a sum-frequency laser based on a design originally from MIT Lincoln Labs. The development and testing phase of the laser was successfully completed in Year 5 and the laser was shipped to Palomar Observatory for deployment, which was successfully completed in Year 6. In year 7, the system has been integrated with the Palomar AO system, in collaboration with CalTech and JPL, and successfully tested on the sky.

LLNL has a project within the CfAO to study fiber lasers. Complementary aspects of this work have been supported by internal funding at LLNL. LLNL also has a grant from the NSF Adaptive Optics Development Program to extend this fiber laser work to a pulsed format more suitable for use on giant (30-m class) telescopes that will require multiple laser beacons. In Year 7, 3.5 W of output power has been generated at 589 nm in a pulsed format. Significant industrial contacts have also been established to produce the new custom technology components required for this research, namely Nufern, Crystal Fibre in Denmark, PSI. There have been discussions with Actinix and Neolight regarding commercialization of this fiber laser system.

V.4 Other Partnership Activities In the area of design of AO systems for giant segmented telescopes, CfAO previously cosponsored a working group with NOAO to produce a national AO technology development roadmap. This roadmap was used by the NSF to initiate an Adaptive Optics Development Program, which began in 2004 with an initial budget of ~$3M which was used to support 6 projects. CfAO researchers lead 2 of these projects, and 2 others involve CfAO personnel. In addition, many CfAO institutions have been active in working on design concepts for AO systems on giant segmented mirror telescopes as part of the California Extremely Large Telescope (CELT) project sponsored jointly by the University of California and CalTech. In Year 5, the CELT team joined with the U.S. and Canadian national efforts in giant segmented telescope design. The combined effort is being called the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project, and support for a preliminary design phase of this project at the level of $35M has been received from the Moore foundation. The national science foundations in Canada has also contributed funding for coordinated work in Canada. An AO working group for TMT has been formed and CfAO

− − 95 members make up the majority of this group, including the chair. It is readily evident that the work on TMT AO design is being coordinated directly with the CfAO Theme on AO for Extremely Large Telescopes.

V.5 Partnership Activities - Future Plans
Continue to extend our leveraged partnership activities in the area of the development and assessment of prototype clinical ophthalmic instrumentation.
Continue to drive the development of MEMS for vision science and astronomical applications through partnerships coordinated within the framework of our national MEMS consortium.
Continue to support coordinated development and demonstration of advanced laser guide star technologies.
Continue to develop a partnership with the Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site that combines technical research and development with education and human resource development in Hawaii.
Focus on design concepts for AO systems on giant segmented telescopes in partnership with the TMT project.

− − 96 SECTION VI. DIVERSITY

Overall objectives. The CfAO has the following goals for broadening student participation to increase CfAO diversity:
Increase participation of underrepresented groups in CfAO research and education activities
Advance students from underrepresented groups into CfAO related fields through participation in CfAO activities

Performance and management indicators TOOLS. Implement activities and programs that broaden access to CfAO related fields. The success metrics are:
Programs developed, implemented, and documented
Activities (within programs or stand-alone) developed, implemented, and documented
Courses developed, implemented, and documented
Progress in sustaining programs, activities, and courses beyond CfAO Year 10
New educational pathways stimulated by, or spun off of, programs, activities, or courses

PRACTICES. Involve CfAO members in CfAO EHR programs and activities, and more specifically in educational practices that broaden participation. The success metrics are:
Number of CfAO members teaching or mentoring in CfAO EHR programs
Number of CfAO members that incorporate new teaching or mentoring strategies into their practice
Number of CfAO graduate students and postdocs who implement inquiry based teaching strategies

PARTNERSHIPS & LINKAGES. Develop linkages and partnerships that broaden participation in the CfAO and CfAO sites. The success metrics are:
Linkages between CfAO sites and organizations that serve significant numbers of students from underrepresented groups
New pathways that broaden access to CfAO and CfAO related fields
Joint activities, programs, and courses developed and implemented by CfAO and organizations that serve students from underrepresented groups
New mechanisms for engaging relevant communities in the CfAO and CfAO related fields

PEOPLE. Broaden participation of CfAO and CfAO fields by advancing students from underrepresented groups. The success metrics are:
Number of underrepresented undergraduates participating in CfAO activities (research and education)
Number of underrepresented undergraduates retained in STEM
Number of underrepresented undergraduates advanced into CfAO, and CfAO related, graduate programs
Number of underrepresented graduate students participating in CfAO activities (research and education)

− − 97

Challenges in making progress The challenge faced by the CfAO can be seen throughout U.S. STEM graduate programs: women, underrepresented minorities, and U.S. citizens in general, are not pursuing doctoral degrees at the level appropriate to their representation in the U.S. college age population. For some of our sites, the challenge is in finding students from underrepresented groups, for other sites it lies in finding U.S. students from any ethnic group or gender. For the past few years we have focused our efforts on training undergraduates through our internship programs. This year we have seen the fruits of our efforts as three CfAO undergraduate interns are now CfAO graduate students, actively engaged in our research.

Activities and impact Diversity initiatives and activities are integrated throughout the CfAO EHR theme; however, the most significant effort is at the undergraduate level through CfAO’s internship programs and short courses. The CfAO has chosen to focus on the undergraduate (including community college) level and the transition from the bachelor’s level into graduate studies due to the low entry and persistence rates of underrepresented groups in CfAO related fields at the undergraduate level. Although we continue our recruitment efforts at the graduate level, our early efforts made it clear that with so few prospective graduate students from underrepresented minority groups, our efforts would be most effective at the undergraduate level.

The following programs and activities (fully described in Education section of this report) are focused on increasing the diversity of the CfAO and CfAO related fields:

Mainland Internship Program: Summer research experiences for undergraduates (4-yr and community college). The goal of the program is to retain and advance students from underrepresented groups in CfAO related fields. From 2002-2005, 55 students have been accepted into the program (69% underrepresented minority [URM]; 62% female; 95% URM or female). Of those 55, at least 50 (91%), are still on an STEM education/career path. Eleven of these students are now in science, engineering, or math graduate programs (6 women; 8 URM).

The CfAO now has 3 graduate students who are from underrepresented minority groups. These graduate students are actively engaged in CfAO funded research. This represents a significant increase, as the CfAO had not in the past had any underrepresented minority graduate students.

The CfAO has significantly impacted the diversity of the UCSC Electrical Engineering Department: three of the seven underrepresented minorities in the EE graduate program are from the CfAO (total of 53 graduate students in EE).

Akamai Maui Internship Program: Summer research experiences for college students who are Hawaii residents, or from Hawaii and studying on the mainland. The goal of the program is to retain and advance students in technical and scientific fields relevant to the state of Hawaii. In 2003-2005, 27 students were accepted into the program (55% URM; 26% female; 70% URM or female; 100% Hawaii residents (or Hawaii residents studying on the mainland). Two students have now transferred to a 4-year institution,

− − 98 twelve have entered the STEM workforce in full-time positions, one has a part-time technical position, and two are now in graduate school.

Hawaii Island Akamai Observatory Program: Internship program implemented in 2005, based on the same model as the Mainland and Maui program, but placing students at Hawaii Island observatories. In 2005 11 students participated (27% URM; 27% women; 45% URM or women). All eleven are on track, either enrolled or working in a science or technical field.

Hartnell Astronomy Short Course: Intensive one-week course to motivate students to pursue astronomy/physics, and apply to internships in the future. The course has been offered since 2004, with a total of 32 students having now completed the course (53% URM; 25% female; 69% URM or female).

CfAO Graduate Fellowship: Fellowship for incoming graduate students from underrepresented groups at CfAO sites. The goal is to broaden participation of underrepresented groups in CfAO research. We have awarded the fellowship to four graduate students: 1 at UCLA affiliated with A. Ghez (U.S. citizen, white, female); 3 at UCSC in electrical engineering (2 Hispanic male U.S. citizens; 1 Hispanic male non-U.S. citizen). All students are still enrolled.

CfAO Post-Bac Fellowship: Fellowship for prospective graduate students with BA/BS degrees. The goal is to advance underrepresented minority students into CfAO graduate programs. We piloted this program in 2004, cost-sharing the fellowship with Keck Observatory through their AODP grant from the NSF. The student spent the 2004-2005 academic year preparing for graduate school and participating in research under the supervision of Jerry Nelson (UCSC) and Sean Adkins (Keck). He is now enrolled in the engineering doctoral program at UCSC and works on CfAO funded research in the area of MEMS.

Participation in minority serving organizations: The CfAO has participated in the SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) for the past three years. The outcomes include applications to our Mainland Internship Program and closer connections to other minority serving organizations. For example, through the SACNAS conference we met representatives from HACU (Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities), who funded three of our Hispanic interns, and directly recruited two of our interns in 2004 and four in 2005.

Stars, Sight and Science: Four-week residential science program for high school students. The goal of this program is to motivate high school students to pursue science in college. 80 students have been through the program (2001-2005), 55 (69%) female; 58 (72%) URM; The female or URM altogether totaled 73 (91%).

Student Recruitment: Activities and Lessons Learned A significant amount of time and resources is spent each year in the identification and recruitment of high achieving students from underrepresented groups, including women and minorities, but with a much stronger focus on minorities, due to the lack of minorities in our graduate programs.

− − 99 Recruitment efforts include college visits, attendance at national conferences, and a range of other activities that put the CfAO in direct contact with students.

The following points summarize recruitment outcomes:
In 2006 we had 67 complete applications compared to 52 in 2005.
Attendance at national conferences (SACNAS and NSBP/HSHP) did not yield any students this year. (NSBE=Nat’l Society of Black Engineers; NSBP=Nat’l Society of Black Physicists; NSBP=Nat’l Society of Hispanic Physicists)
Seven students from the UCSC Saturday Open Lab (January 21, 2006) applied and two were accepted. Of the two, one was a 2005 Hawaii Island intern and the other attended the Hartnell Astronomy Short Course in 2005.
Two students accepted into the 2006 program, as well as one student who is on the waiting list, came from the Hartnell Astronomy Short Course.
In 2006 our HACU partners recruited 9 students to apply and 3 were accepted with an additional person on the waiting list.

Table VI.1. Recruiting Activities: Fall 2005-Spring 2006 Number of Students Number Number Where Date Description of Event Who Applied Accepted Reported Interest SACNAS Conference Denver, CO 9/29/06 Booth Past interns attended 20 3 0

Science & Engineering Poster UC Santa Cruz 10/7/05 8 1 0 Session and Resource Fair

UC Santa Cruz 1/21/06 Saturday Open Lab 14 7 2

NSBP/NSHP Conference San Jose, CA 2/15/06 Booth Past interns attended. 13 1 0

Table VI.2 How students reported finding out about the Mainland Internship

Applicant reported source reported onStudents applied Students Accepted to the application (complete accepted* waiting list applications) Faculty member/counselor 10 0 0 SACNAS 1 0 0 HACU 9 3 1 Internet 17 4 2 Flyer 4 0 0 CfAO representative 8 2 1

− − 100 Applicant reported source reported onStudents applied Students Accepted to the application (complete accepted* waiting list applications) Akamai Observatory Short Course (In Hawaii) 1 0 0 Hartnell Astronomy Short Course 3 2 1 MESA (at various CA community colleges) 4 2 0 DEEP (program at UCSC with three community college partners) 2 0 0 Other 6 1 0

TOTAL** 73* 11 5 * note that two students who were accepted into the program could not attend and were replaced by students on the waiting list. ** note that some accepted students found out about the program in multiple ways. The total represents the actual number of completed apps and accepted students

UCSC Saturday Open Lab Saturday Open Labs is an activity developed by the CfAO to recruit students. The goal of Saturday Open Labs is to expose undergraduates from underrepresented groups to research at CfAO sites, and to generate interest in our internship and graduate school programs. January 21, 2006 a Saturday Open Lab was held at UCSC. The event included a Galaxy Research Inquiry, facilitated by UCSC graduate students, Karrie Gilbert, Sarah Martell and Lindsey Pollack, a tour of the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics, led by UCSC graduate student Mark Ammons and a panel of graduate students and past interns. It also included research presentations by 1 past Akamai Maui Intern, Kawailehua Kuluhiwa, and 3 past Hawaii Island Interns, Kaniela Dement, Paul Linden and David Luis.

14 students were present at the Saturday Open Lab, 2 from Hartnell College, 3 from UCSC, 3 from the University of Hawaii at Hilo and 6 from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The Hawaii students arrived a day early to present or listen to the past intern research presentations and get more exposure to UCSC and the Santa Cruz area.

The results from the evaluation at the end of the day show that the event was successful for generating interest in UCSC graduate programs and the CfAO internship programs:

Overall Rating 11 rated it an “outstanding experience” 2 rated it a “very good experience” 1 rated it a “good experience

Graduate School Plans 8 students plan to get a Masters Degree 5 students plan to get a PhD

Graduate School Degree Disciplines 9 students plan to get a graduate degree in Engineering 2 students plan to get a graduate degree in Physics 1 student plans to get a graduate degree in Computer Science

− − 101

How much has your participation in this Saturday Open Lab experience effected your decision to go to graduate school?

“I was unsure of going to graduate school but this helped me because I see what they work on and have a better understanding. I think I'm leaning towards grad school.”

“It has increased it because now I know how to break down more barriers that stand in the way of getting into grad school.”

“Very much. I had always thought about it, but it enhanced my decision to actually go forth with it.”

“Well, now I will definitely apply to UCSC. There is something special about actually being able to walk around campus.”

Applying to CfAO Internship Programs 7 students applied 2 students accepted CfAO internship positions 1 students was placed on the alternate list

− − 102 SECTION VII. MANAGEMENT

VII.1a Organizational Strategy: The Center’s Director is Professor Claire Max, and Managing Director, Dr. Chris Le Maistre. The Director has responsibility for the overall running of the Center and in particular the Center’s research agenda. The Managing Director is in charge of Center operations. A university Oversight Committee reviews Center activities on an annual basis and reports to the Vice Chancellor for Research. The Center’s Organization chart is shown in Appendix B. The Center’s Research is divided into Themes as discussed in Section II. The theme leaders report to the director. UC Santa Cruz is the headquarters for the Center and the Business offices of the ten collaborating sites report to the Managing Director. Internal Management of the Center is by an Executive Committee (not shown in the organizational chart). This Committee meets bi-weekly and consists of the Director, Managing Director, Associate Directors (Theme Leaders) and selected leading researchers. The Director is further advised on management issues and developments in the field of Adaptive optics, by an External Advisory Board. This Board also reports to the Vice Chancellor for Research. Each researcher submits an annual report and proposal for future research. Proposals are reviewed by the Executive Committee and funding for new or continuing proposals is determined by progress made in the previous year and the quality of the research proposal. A Proposal Advisory Committee (PAC) meets with the Executive Committee to review the proposals and funding levels and to help with decisions on proposals that are on the edge.

There have been no organizational changes made this reporting year.

VII.1b Performance and Management Indicators. All proposals are required to include benchmarks to enable determination of progress during the year. As described in Section 1a above all progress reports and proposals are reviewed each year by the Executive Committee with assistance from the PAC and funding recommendations made. The final funding decisions rest with the Director.

VII.1c Impact of Metrics The stringent review of proposals and reports have over the years resulted in funding cuts to researchers and cancellation of projects. Conversely new projects have been funded in most years thus maintaining the vitality of the Center’s research agenda.

VII.1d Management Problems No problems were experienced this year and none are anticipated in the coming year.

VII.2 Management Communications The Center’s Executive Committee meets biweekly. The UC Santa Cruz members assemble in the CfAO conference room and out of town members link in by video or tele-conferencing links. The Executive Committee also meets periodically with NSF staff – Morris Aizenman (CfAO Technical Coordinator at NSF) and other members of NSF staff invited by Dr. Aizenman based on the agenda items to be discussed. These meetings are also held via video and tele-conferencing

− − 103 connections. The Executive Committee consists of:

Claire Max Director, UC Santa Cruz Chris Le Maistre Managing Director, UC Santa Cruz Lisa Hunter Associate Director (Leader Theme 1 – Education and Human Resources), UC Santa Cruz Don Gavel Associate Director (Leader Theme 2 – Extremely Large Telescopes), UC Santa Cruz Scot Olivier Associate Director (Leader Theme 3 – Extreme Adaptive Optics), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory David Williams Associate Director (Leader Theme 4 – Vision Science), University of Rochester Jerry Nelson Retired Director, Astronomy UCSC Andrea Ghez Member at large – Astronomy, UCLA Austin Roorda Member at large – Vision Science, UC Berkeley

Communication Problems No major problems associated with our electronic connectivity have been experienced. The video conferencing facility is used for Executive Committee meetings, information exchange between researchers at different institutions, workshops and also for interacting with summer interns who are at different research institutions on the mainland and the Islands of Hawaii.

VII.3. Center Committees

Internal Oversight Committee – University of California Santa Cruz Name Affiliation 1 Burney Le Boeuf Associate Vice Chancellor, Research 2 David Kliger Acting Provost 3 Steve Kang Dean, School of Engineering 4 Joseph Miller Director, UCO/Lick Observatory 5 Francisco Hernandez Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs

The Committee meets at least once a year. Additionally, the Center Director meets regularly with the Director of the UCO/Lick Observatory, who conveys concerns or issues to the Oversight Committee as needed.

The Program Advisory Committee Name Affiliation 1 Dr. Michael Lloyd-Hart University of Arizona 2 Dr. Mark Colavita Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA 3 Dr. Stanley Klein (Chair) University of California, Berkeley, CA 4 Dr. Malcolm Northcott AOPTIX Technologies, Campbell, CA 5 Carrol Moran University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 6 Dr. Rodney Ogawa University of California, Santa Cruz, CA

− − 104 The External Advisory Board Name Affiliation 1 Dr. Christopher Dainty National University of Ireland 2 Dr. Ray Applegate University of Houston, TX 3 Dr. Robert Byer (Chair) Stanford University, CA 4 Dr. Thomas Cornsweet Visual Pathways Inc, Prescott, AZ 5 Dr. Norbert Hubin European Southern Observatory, Munich 6 Dr. Fiona Goodchild University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 7 Dr. Robert Fugate Air Force Research Labs, Albuquerque, NM 8 Dr. David R. Burgess Boston College, Boston, MA

VII.4 Changes to the Center’s Strategic Plan There have been no changes to the strategic plan since the last report.

− − 105 SECTION VIII. CENTER-WIDE OUTPUTS AND ISSUES

VIII.1a. Center Publications

Year 7 Peer Reviewed Publications 1. Ádámkovics, M., I. de Pater, M. Hartung, F. Eisenhauer, R. Genzel and C.A. Griffith. “The 3-dimensional distribution of Titan haze from near-infrared integral field spectroscopy.” J. Geophys. Res., in press.

2. Aime C., and Soummer R., “The Usefulness and Limits of Coronagraphy in the Presence of Pinned Speckles,” Astrophysical Journal Letters 612, pp. L85–L88, Sept. 2004.

3. Choi S., Doble N., Lin J., Christou J. and Williams D. R., “Effect of wavelength on in- vivo images of the human cone mosaic,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 22, 2598-2605 (2005). Selected for the Virtual Journal of Biomedical Optics, Optical Society of America – Jan 2006.

4. de Pater, I., S. Gibbard, E. Chiang, H.B. Hammel, B. Macintosh, F. Marchis, S. Martin, H.G. Roe, and M. Showalter, “The Dynamic Neptunian Ring Arcs: Evidence for a Gradual Disappearance of Liberté and a Resonant Jump of Courage.” 2005. Icarus 174, 263-272.

5. de Pater, I., S.G. Gibbard and H.B. Hammel, 2006 “Evolution of the Dusty Rings of Uranus.” 2006. Icarus, 180, p. 186-200.

6. de Pater, I., H.B. Hammel, S.G. Gibbard, and M.R. Showalter, “New dust belts of Uranus: one ring, two ring, red ring, blue ring.” 2006. Science, 312, 92-94.

7. de Pater, I., A. Ádámkovics, A.H. Bouchez, M.E. Brown, S.G. Gibbard, F. Marchis, H.G. Roe, E.L. Schaller, and E. Young, “Titan Imagery with Keck AO during and after Probe Entry,” 2006. J. Geophys. Res. in press.

8. Duchene, G., Ghez, A. M., McCabe, C., & Ceccarelli, C. 2005, “The Circumstellar Environment of T Tau S at High Spatial and Spectral Resolution," ApJ, 628, 832

9. Evans W., Sommargren Gary, Macintosh Bruce, Severson Scott, and Dillon Daren, “Effect of wavefront error on 10-7 contrast measurements”, Optics Letters, Vol. 31, No.5, p565-567, March 2006.

10. Ghez, A. M., Hornstein, S. D., Lu, J., Bouchez, A., LeMignant, D., Wizinowich, P., Matthews, K., Morris, M., Becklin, E. E., Campbell, R. D., Chin, J. C. Y., van Dam, M. A., Hartman, S. K., Johansson, E. M., Lafon, R. E., Stomski, P. J., Summers, D. M. 2005, “The First Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics Observations of the Galactic Center: Sgr A*'s Infrared Color and the Discovery of Extended Red Emission in its Vicinity," ApJ, 635, 1087

11. Gibbard, S.G., I. de Pater and H.B. Hammel, 2005. Near-infrared Adaptive Optics Imaging of the Satellites and Individual Rings of Uranus from the W.M.Keck Observatory. Icarus 174, 253-262

− − 106 12. Guenther, E. W; Paulson, D. B; Cochran, W. D, et al. "Low-mass companions to Hyades stars", Astron. Astrophys., 442, 1031-1039, (2005).

13. Hammel, H.B., de Pater I., Gibbard S., Lockwood G.W., and Rages K. “Uranus in 2003: Zonal winds, banded structure, and discrete features.” 2005. Icarus, 175, 534-545.

14. Hammel, H.B., de Pater I., Gibbard S., Lockwood G.W., and Rages K. “New cloud acitivity on Uranus in 2004: First detection of a southern feature at 2.2 microns”, 2005. Icarus Note, 175, 284-288.

15. Kim Jeehyun, Miller Donald T., Kim Eunha, Oh Sanghoon, Oh Junghwan, Milner Thomas E., “Optical coherence tomography speckle reduction by a partially spatially coherent source,” J. Biomed. Opt. 10, 064034-1 – 9 (2005).

16. Konopacky, Q. M., Ghez, A. M., McCabe, C., Duchene, G., & Macintosh, B. A. 2005, “Measuring the Mass of a Pre-Main Sequence Binary Star Through the Orbit of TWA 5A," AJ, submitted (referee's report received)

17. Lloyd P. and Sivaramakrishnan A., “Tip-Tilt Error in Lyot Coronagraphs,” Astrophysical Journal” 621, pp. 1153–1158, Mar. 2005.

18. Lu, J. R., Ghez, A. M., Hornstein, S. D., Morris, M., & Becklin, E. E. 2005, \IRS 16SW - A New Comoving Group of Young Stars in the Central Parsecof the Milky Way," ApJLett, 625, 51

19. Makidon R. B., Sivaramakrishnan A., Perrin M. D., Roberts L. C., Oppenheimer B. R., Soummer R., and Graham J. R., “An Analysis of Fundamental Waffle Mode in Early AEOS Adaptive Optics Images,” Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 117, pp. 831–846, Aug. 2005.

20. Marchis, F., D. Le Mignant, F. Chaffee, A.G. Davies, T. Fusco, R. Pranage, I. de Pater and the Keck Science team “Keck AO survey of Io’s global volcanic activity between 2 and 5μm.” 2005, Icarus, 176, 96-122.

21. Marchis, F., P. Descamps, D. Hestroffer, J. Berthier, I. de Pater “Mass and density of Asteroid 121 Hermione from an analysis of its companion orbit.” 2005, Icarus 178, 450- 464.

22. Marchis, F., Binary Asteroids (invited encyclopedia contribution.) 2005. McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, 10th Edition, DOI 10.1036/1097-8542.800710

23. Marchis, F., M. Kaasalainen, E.F.Y. Hom, J. Berthier, J. Enriquez, D. Hestroffer,D. Le Mignant, and I. de Pater, “Shape, Size and Multiplicity ofMain-belt asteroids. I. Keck Adaptive Optics Survey,” 2005. Icarus, in revision.

24. Marchis, F., P. Descamps, D. Hestroffer, J. Berthier, “Discovery of the First Triple Asteroidal System,” 2005. Nature, 436, 822-824.

25. Marois, C., Lafrenier D., Doyon, R., Racine, R., Nadeau, D., and Macintosh, B., “Direct exoplanet imaging and spectroscopy with an Angular Differential Imaging Technique”, 2006 Astrophysical Journal 641, 556

− − 107 26. Marois, C., Lafreniere, D., Macintosh, B., Doyon, R. (2006) “Accurate Astrometry and Photometry of Saturated and Coronagraphic Point Spread Functions”, ApJ, in press

27. Martin, J.A., Roorda, A., “Direct and Non-Invasive Assessment of Parafoveal Capillary Leukocyte Velocity” Ophthalmology 112(12) 2219-2224 (2005)

28. Melbourne, J., Wright, S.A., Barczys, M., Bouchez, A.H., Chin, J., Van Dam, M. A., Hartman, S., Johansson, E., Koo, D.C., Lafon, R., Larkin, J., LeMignant, D., Lotz, J., Max, C.E., Pennington, D.M., Stomski, P.J., Summers, D., & Wizinowich, P.L., “Merging Galaxies in GOODS-S: First Extragalactic Results from Keck Laser Adaptive Optics,” ApJ., 625, pp 27 (2005)

29. Melbourne J., Koo D. C., Le Floc’h E. “Optical Morphology Evolution of Infrared Luminous Galaxies in GOODS-N” 2005, ApJ, 632, L65

30. Muno, M. P., Lu, J. R., Bagano®, F. K., Brandt, W. N., Garmire, G. P., Ghez, A. M., Hornstein, S. D., & Morris, M. R. 2005, “A Remarkable Low-Mass X-Ray Binary within 0.1 Parsecs of the Galactic Center," ApJ, 633, 228

31. Poonja, S., Patel, S., Henry, L., Roorda, A., “Dynamic visual stimulus presentation in an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope” Journal of Refractive Surgery 21(5): 575-580 (2005)

32. Poyneer, L., and Veran, J.P., “Optimal modal fourier transform wave-front control”, 2005 J. Opt. Soc. Am. A., 22, 1515

33. Poyneer, L., Bauman, B., Macintosh, B., Dillon, D., and Severson, S., “Experimental demonstration of phase correction with a 32x32 MEMS mirror and spatially-filtered wavefront sensor”, 2006 Optics Letters 31, 293

34. Quirrenbach, A., Larkin, J., Barczys, M., Gasaway, T., Iserlohe, C., Krabbe, A., McElwain, M., Song, I., Weiss, J., Wright, S., “OSIRIS: AO-assisted integral-field spectroscopy at the Keck Observatory”, New Astronomy Review, 49, pp 639 (2006)

35. Rha Jungtae, Jonnal Ravi S., Thorn Karen E., Qu Junle, Zhang Yan, and Miller Donald T., “Adaptive optics flood-illumination camera for high speed retinal imaging,” Opt. Express 14, 4552-4569 (2006), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-14- 10-4552.

36. Romero-Borja, F., Venkateswaran, K., Hebert, T.J., Roorda, A. “Optical Slicing of Human Retinal Tissue in vivo with the Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope” Applied Optics 44(19): 4032-4040 (2005)

37. Sivaramakrishnan A and Oppenheimer B. R., “Astrometry and Photometry with Coronagraphs,” Astrophysical Journal 647, Aug. 2006.

38. Sivaramakrishnan A and Lloyd J. P., “Spiders in Lyot Coronagraphs,” Astrophysical Journal” 633, pp. 528– 533, Nov. 2005.

39. Sivaramakrishnan A and Yaitskova N., “Lyot Coronagraphy on Giant Segmented-Mirror Telescopes,” Astrophysical Journal Letters 626, pp. L65–L68, June 2005.

− − 108 40. Sivaramakrishnan A, Soummer R., Lloyd J. P., Oppenheimer B. R., and Makidon R. B., “Low-Order Aberrations in Band-limited Lyot Coronagraphs,” Astrophysical Journal” 634, pp. 1416– 1422, Dec. 2005.

41. Steinbring, E., Faber, S.M., Macintosh, B.A., Gavel, D., & Gates E.L., “Characterizing the Adaptive Optics Off-Axis Point-Spread Function. II. Methods for Use in Laser Guide Star Observations”, 2005, PASP, 117, 847

42. Tanner, A., Ghez, A. M., Morris, M. R., & Christou, J. C. 2005, “Stellar Bow Shocks in the Northern Arm of the Galactic Center: More Members and Kinematics of the Massive Star Population," ApJ, 624, 742 Lu, J. R., Ghez, A. M., Hornstein, S. D., Morris, M., & Becklin, E. E. 2005, \IRS 16SW - A New Comoving Group of Young Stars in the Central Parsec of the Milky Way," ApJLett, 625, 51

43. van Dam Marcos A., "Measuring the centroid gain of a Shack-Hartmann quad-cell wavefront sensor using slope discrepancy", Journal of the Optical Society of America A 22, 1509-1514 (2005).

44. van Dam Marcos A., Bouchez Antonin H., Le Mignant David and Wizinowich Peter L., "Quasistatic aberrations induced by laser guide stars in adaptive optics," accepted by Optics Express (2006).

45. van Dam Marcos A., Bouchez Antonin H., Le Mignant David et al., "The W.M. Keck Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics System: Performance Characterization," Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 118, 310-318 (2006).

46. Vogel, C.R., Arathorn, D.W., Roorda, A., Parker, A. “Retinal Motion Estimation in Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy” Optics Express, 14(2): 487-497 (2006)

47. Wiberg D. M., Max C. E., and Gavel D., A Geometric View of Adaptive Optics Control”, J. Optical Soc. Am. 2005.

48. Wizinowich Peter L.; Le Mignant, David; Bouchez, Antonin H.; Campbell, Randy D.; Chin, Jason C. Y. Contos, Adam R.; van Dam, Marcos A.; Hartman, Scott K.; Johansson, Erik M.; Lafon, Robert E.; Lewis, Hilton; Stomski, Paul J.; Summers, Douglas M.; Brown, Curtis G.; Danforth, Pamela M.; Max, Claire E.; Pennington, Deanna M., “The W. M. Keck Observatory Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics System: Overview,” Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 118, 297-309, 2006.

49. Wolfing, J.I., Chung, M., Carroll, J., Roorda, A., Williams, D.R., “High-Resolution Retinal Imaging of Cone-Rod Dystrophy” Ophthalmology, in press (epublication available)

50. Wong, M.H., I. de Pater, M.R. Showalter, H.G. Roe, B. Macintosh, and G. Verbanac, “Groundbased near-infrared spectroscopy of Jupiter’s ring and moons.” 2006. Icarus, in revision.

51. Zellner, N.E.B, S. Gibbard, F. Marchis, I. de Pater, and M. J. Gaffey, “Near-IR Imaging of Asteroid 4 Vesta.” 2005. Icarus 177, 190-195.

− − 109 52. Zhang Yan, Barry Cense, Jungtae Rha, Ravi S. Jonnal, Weihua Gao, Robert J. Zawadzki, John S. Werner, Steve Jones, Scot Olivier, and Donald T. Miller, “High-speed volumetric imaging of cone photoreceptors with adaptive optics spectral-domain optical coherence tomography,” Opt. Express 14, 4380-4394 (2006), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-14-10-4380.

53. Zhang Yan, Jungtae Rha, Ravi S. Jonnal, and Donald T. Miller, “Adaptive optics parallel spectral domain optical coherence tomography for imaging the living retina,” Opt. Express 13, 4792-4811 (2005), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-13- 12-4792.

54. Zhang, Y., Poonja, S., Roorda, A. “MEMS-based Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy” Optics Letters, 31, 1268-1270 (2006)

55. Zhang, Y., Roorda, A. “Evaluating the Lateral Resolution of the Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope” Journal of Biomedical Optics, 11, 014002 (2006)

Books and Book Chapters 1. J. Porter, A. Awwal, J. Lin, H. Queener and K. Thorn (Eds) “Adaptive Optics for Vision Science: Principles, Practices, Design and Applications”. Publisher, New York: Wiley (July 2006). Note: This handbook is a CfAO initiative

Chapters and Contributors to above

a. Austin Roorda, Donald T. Miller, and Julian Christou, “Strategies for high resolution retinal imaging” b. Marcos A. van Dam, “System Performance Characterization,” c. Michael Helmbrecht, “Deformable Mirror Selection” d. Nathan Doble and Donald T. Miller, “Wavefront Correctors for Vision Science” e. Yan Zhang, Jungtae Rha, Ravi S. Jonnal, and Donald T. Miller, “Indiana University AOOCT System.”

Chapters in other Publications

a. Roorda, A., Venkateswaran, K., Romero-Borja, F., Williams, D.R., Carroll, J, Hofer, H. “Adaptive Optics Ophthalmoscopy” (chapter 9 - pp125-133) in “Retinal Imaging,” Huang, D., Kaiser, P.K., Lowder, C.Y., Traboulsi, E., (Eds.) Publisher Elsevier Science (2006)

CfAO Research in Text Books (contributed by Dr. Andrea Ghez)

a. Arny "Explorations: An Introduction to Astronomy, Stars First" 1st edition McGraw-Hill Undergraduate Introductory Text for Non-Science Majors b. Chaisson & McMillan "Astronomy Today", 4th edition, Prentice Hall Undergraduate Introductory Text for Non-Science Majors

− − 110 c. Hartle "Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity", 1st edition Addison-Wesley Undergraduate General Relatvity Textbook d. Kuehn "The Milky Way System", S. Hirzel Verlag Stuttgart Popular Science 16 e. Marc Kutner "Principles of Astrophysics", 1st edition, Cambridge UP Undergraduate Introductory Astronomy Textbook for Science Majors f. Pasacho® "My Astronomy: From the Earth to the Universe", 6th edition Saunders College Publishing Undergraduate Introductory Text for Non-Science Majors g. Pasacho® & Filippenko "The Cosmos: Astronomy in the New Millenium" 2nd edition Hartcourt College Publishers Undergraduate Introductory Text for Non- Science Majors

Year 6 Publications: Non-Peer Reviewed 1. Ádámkovics, M., de Pater, I., Hartung, M., Eisenhauer, F., Gibbard, S. G., Griffith,C. A., 2005. Aerosol profiles and surface albedo retrievals from multiband, near-IR, spatially- resolved spectra of Titan. AGU Fall meeting, #P43B-06

2. Ádámkovics, M.; de Pater, I.; Gibbard, S. G.; Griffith, C. A., 2005. The 3-dimensional distribution of atmospheric haze on Titan observed using spatially-resolved infrared spectroscopy. BAAS 37, #45.01

3. Ammons S. M., Kupke R, B. Bauman J., Gavel D.T., Dillon D. R., Reinig M. R., Max C. E., “Laboratory test results on the multi-conjugate and multi-object adaptive optics testbed and implications for AO on the Thirty Meter Telescope,” Proc. SPIE 6272, paper 175. 2006.

4. Barczys, M., Larkin, J., Glassman, T. M., et al. “Faint Field Galaxies from z~1 to 0.5 – New Merger Results from Keck AO and NIRC2”, AAS abstract, 205, 94.11 (2004)

5. Beck, T. L., Schaefer, G. H., Duchene, G., & Ghez, A. M. 2005, “T Tau: An Enigmatic Eponym" Protostars and Planets V, Proceedings of the Conference LPI Contribution No. 1286. p.8643, 8643

6. de Pater, I., H.B., Hammel, S. Gibbard, and M.R. Showalter, 2005. Rings of Uranus, IAU Circ., 8649, 2

7. de Pater, I., S. Gibbard (LLNL), M. Adamkovics, F. Marchis (UC-Berkeley), A. Bouchez (Caltech), 2005. Characterization of Titan with Keck AO during the time of probe entry, AAS-DPS, #41.05, Cambridge, UK

8. de Pater, I.; Gibbard, S.; Adamkovics, M.; Marchis, F.; Bouchez, A., 2005. Characterization of Titan with Keck AO during the time of probe entry. BAAS 37, #41.05

9. Descamps, P., F. Marchis, T. Michalowski, J. Berthier, D. Hestroffer, F. Vachier, F. Colas, M. Birlan, Insights on 90 Antiope double asteroid combining VLTA and Lightcurve Observations, 2005. ACM-IAU meeting, Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

− − 111 10. Doble Nathan , Miller Donald T., Yoon Geunyoung, Helmbrecht Michael A., and Williams David R., “Wavefront corrector requirements for compensation of ocular aberrations in two large populations of normal human eyes,” in Ophthalmic Technologies XVI, F. Manns, P. G. Söderberg, A. Ho, eds. Proc. SPIE 6138, 204-213 (2006).

11. Duchêne, G., Ghez, A. M., McCabe, C., & Ceccarelli, C. 2005, The Circum-stellar Environment of T Tau S at High Spatial and Spectral Resolution, "ApJ, 628, 832

12. Evans Julia W., Morzinski Katie, Layra Reza, Severson Scott, Poyneer Lisa, Macintosh Bruce A, Dillon Daren, Palmer David, Gavel Don, Olivier Scot and Paul Bierden, “Extreme Adaptive Optics Testbed: Performance and Characterization of a 1024-MEMS deformable mirror,” in MEMS/MOEMS Components and their applications III, S. Olivier, ed., Proc. SPIE 6113, in press. 2006.

13. Evans Julia W., Morzinski Katie, Reza Layra, Severson Scott, Poyneer Lisa, Macintosh Bruce A, Dillon Daren, Sommargren Gary, Palmer David, Gavel Don, Olivier Scot, “Extreme Adaptive Optics Testbed: High contrast measurements with a MEMS deformable mirror,” in Techniques and Instrumentation for the detection of Exoplanets II, D.R. Couter, ed., Proc. SPIE 5905, pp.303-310, 2005.”

14. Gavel Donald, "MEMS for the next generation of giant astronomical telescopes," Proc. SPIE 6113 (Jan 2006)..

15. Ghez, A. M. 2005, “Stellar Orbits and the Supermassive Black Hole at the Center of Our Galaxy" AAS/Division of Dynamical Astronomy Meeting, 36,

16. Glauser, A. M., Menard, F., Pinte, C., GÄudel, M., & Duchêne, G. 2005, “Properties of the Circumstellar Gas and Dust Disk of IRAS” 04158+2805, "Protostars and Planets V, Proceedings of the Conference LPI Contribution No. 1286”. p.8310, 8310

17. Hornstein, S. D., Ghez, A. M., Matthews, K., Lu, J. R., Rafelski, M., Morris, M., Becklin, E. E., & Thompson, D. 2005, “Infrared Colors of Sgr A* From HKLM Adaptive Optics Observations," American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 207

18. Konopacky, Q. M., Ghez, A. M., Altenbach, F., McCabe, C., Duchêne, G., White, R. J., Macintosh, B. A. 2005 “Dynamical Masses of Pre-Main Sequence Visual Binary Stars," Protostars and Planets V, Proceedings of the Conference. LPI Contribution No. 1286. p.8541, 8541

19. Lin B. C.-Y., T.-J. King, and Richard S. Muller, "Poly-SiGe MEMS actuators for adaptive optics," Photonics WEST, sponsored by SPIE, The International Society for Optical Engineering, Conference 6113, Paper 6113-28, San Jose, CA, January 25, 2006.

20. Looze Douglas P., van Dam Marcos A. and Johansson Erik M., “Comparison of Tip-Tilt Controllers using the STRAP Wavefront Sensor in the W.M. Keck Observatory Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics System,” Proc. SPIE 6272-159 (2006).

21. Lu, J. R., Ghez, A. M. et al. 2005, “Constraints on Orbits and Origins of Young Stars in the Central Parsec of the Galaxy," American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 207

− − 112 22. Macintosh B, Poyneer L., Sivaramakrishnan A., and Marois C., “Speckle lifetimes in highcontrast adaptive optics,” in Astronomical Adaptive Optics Systems and Applications II. Edited by Tyson, Robert K.; Lloyd-Hart, Michael. Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 5903, pp. 170-177, R. K. Tyson and M. Lloyd-Hart, eds, Aug. 2005.

23. Macintosh, B. A., Graham, J. R., Palmer, D., Doyon, R., Gavel, D., Larkin, J. Oppenheimer, B. R., Poyneer, L. Saddlemyer, L., Sivaramakrishnan, A., Soummer, R., Wallace, J. K., and Veran, J.-P. “The Gemini Planet Imager,” SPIE 2006 (submitted)

24. Macintosh, B., Graham, J., Oppenheimer, B., Poyneer, L., Sivaramakrishnan, A., and Veran, JP. “MEMS-based extreme adaptive optics for planet detection”, 2006 Proc. SPIE 6113, 48

25. Makidon R. B., Sivaramakrishnan A., Perrin M. D., Roberts L. C., Oppenheimer,L, C. Soummer B. R., and Graham J. R., “An Analysis of Fundamental Waffle Mode in Early AEOS Adaptive Optics Images,” in AMOS Technical Conference, P. W. Kervin, J. L. Africano; eds.Sept. 2005.

26. Makidon R. B., Sivaramakrishnan A., Perrin M. D., Roberts L. C., Oppenheimer,L, C. Soummer B. R., and Graham J. R., “The Lyot Project: Understanding the AEOS Adaptive Optics PSF,” in Direct Imaging of Exoplanets - Science & Techniques, Proceedings IAU Colloquium no. 200; C. Aime, F. Vakili; eds. p. 603, Sept. 2005.

27. Marchis F., J. Berthier, D. Hestroffer, P. Descamps & Keck Science team, (617) Patroclus & Menoetius, IAU Circular No 8666,1 , Feb. 2006.

28. Marchis F., P. Descamps, D. Hestroffer, J. Berthier, Satellites of (87) Sylvia, IAU Circular No 8582,1 , Aug. 2005

29. Marchis, F., + 16 co-authors, 2005. Multiplicity in the Jupiter Trojan Population: Low density of 617 Patroclus with Keck LGS AO and Perspective, AAS207, #98.07, Washington DC

30. Marchis, F., + 16 co-authors, 2005. The Orbit of 617 Patroclus Binary Trojan System from Keck LGS AO observations, AAS-DPS, #14.07, Cambridge, UK

31. Marchis, F., et al. 2005, Multiplicity in the Jupiter Trojan Population: Low density of 617 Patroclus with Keck LGS AO and Perspective. BAAS, 207, #98.0715

32. Marchis, F., et al. 2005. The Orbit of 617 Patroclus Binary Trojan System from Keck LGS AO observations. BAAS 37, #14.07

33. Marchis, F., J. Berthier, C. Clergeon, P. Descamps, D. Hestroffer, I. de Pater, F. Vachier, On the Diversity of Binary Asteroid Orbits, 2005. ACM-IAU meeting, Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

34. Marchis, F., Monitoring Io Volcanism from the Ground, 2005. in Reports on Astronomy 2003-2005, invited contribution, Ed G. Consolmagno, Transactions of the IAU

35. McCabe, C., Duchêne, G., Pinte, C., Menard, F., Stapelfeldt, K. R., & Ghez, A. M. 2005, “Thermal Infrared Adaptive Optics Imaging of Circumstellar Disks: Investigating

− − 113 Grain Growth and Disk Structure," Protostars and Planets V, Proceedings of the Conference LPI Contribution No. 1286. p.8627, 8627

36. Melbourne, J., Barczys, M., Wright S. A., Max, C. E., Larkin, J.E., Koo, D. C., Perlmutter, S., Steinbring, E., Metevier, A., Chun, M., “Highlights from the Center for Adaptive Optics Treasury Survey of Distant Galaxies, Including H-band Photometry of a z=1.3 Supernova”, AAS abstract, 207, 9802 (2005)

37. Miller Donald T., Zhang Yan, Rha Jungtae, Jonnal Ravi S., and Gao Weihua, “Imaging the living retina at the cellular level with AO parallel spectral-domain optical coherence tomography,” in Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 6018 5th International Workshop on Adaptive Optics for Industry and Medicine, edited by Wenhan Jiang, (SPIE, Bellingham, WA) 601803-1 – 12 (2005).

38. Morzinski M.; Macintosh B. A., Lawrence Livermore National Lab.; Severson S. A., Evans J. W., Dillon D. R., Gavel D. T., Max C. E., “Characterizing the potential of MEMS deformable mirrors for astronomical adaptive optics”, K. Proc. SPIE 6272, paper 71, 2006..

39. Showalter, M. R.; Burns, J. A.; de Pater, I.; Hamilton, D. P.; Lissauer, J. J.; Verbanac, G., 2005. Updates on the Dusty Rings of Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. Dust in Planetary Systems, Proceedings of the conference held September 26-28, 2005 in Kaua’i, Hawaii. LPI Contribution No. 1280. p.130

40. Sivaramakrishnan A, Morse E. C., Makidon R. B., Bergeron L. E., Casertano S., Figer D. F., Acton D. S., Atcheson P. D., and Rieke M. J., “Limits on routine wavefront sensing with NIRCam on JWST,” in Infrared and Optical Space Telescopes. Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 5487, pp. 909-917; ed. J. C. Mather.

41. Sivaramakrishnan A, Oppenheimer B. R., Perrin M. D., Roberts L. C., Makidon, R. Soummer R. B., Digby A. P., Bradford L. W., Skinner M. A., Turner N. H., and T. A. ten Brummelaar, “Scintillation and pupil illumination in AO coronagraphy,” in Direct Imaging of Exoplanets - Science & Techniques, Proceedings IAU Colloquium no. 200; C. Aime, F. Vakili; eds. Sept. 2005.

42. Soummer R., Oppenheimer B. R., Hinkley S., Sivaramakrishnan A., Makidon R. B., Digby A. P., Brenner D., Kuhn J., Perrin M. D., Roberts L. C., and Kratter K., “The Lyot Project Coronagraph: Data Processing and Performance Analysis,” in Astronomy with High Contrast Imaging III, EAS Publications Series, C. Aime and M. Carbillet, eds. Oct. 2006

43. Stevenson Scott B., Austin Roorda. Miniature eye movements measured simultaneously with ophthalmic imaging and a dual-Purkinje image eye tracker. http://journalofvision.org/5/8/590/

44. Stevenson Scott B., Avesh Raghunandan, Jeremie Frazier, Siddharth Poonja, Austin Roorda. Fixation jitter, motion discrimination and retinal imaging. http://journalofvision.org/4/11/85/

45. Wallace J. Kent, “A Laboratory Demonstration of Calibration Wave Front Sensing”, SPIE Aerospace Conference, Orlando, May 2006.

− − 114 46. Weinberg, N. N., Milosavljevic, M., & Ghez, A. M. 2005, “Astrometric Monitoring of Stellar Orbits at the Galactic Center with a Next Generation Large Telescope," ASP Conf. Ser. 338: Astrometry in the Age of the Next Generation of Large Telescopes, 338, 252

47. Wright, S.A., Larkin, J. E., Barczys, M., Iserlohe, C., Krabbe, A., McElwain, M., Weiss, J., “OSIRIS Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics Observations at Keck Observatory”, AAS abstract, 207, 7809 (2005)

48. Zawadzki Robert J., Choi Stacey S., Werner, John S., Jones Steven M., Chen Diana, Olivier Scot S., Zhang Yan, Rha Jungtae, Cense Barry, and Miller Donald T., “Two deformable mirror adaptive optics system for in vivo retinal imaging with optical coherence tomography. Optical Society of America Biomed, 1-3 (in press).

49. Zhang Yan, Rha Jungtae, Cense Abraham, Jonnal Ravi S., Gao Weihua, Zawadzki, Robert J. Werner, John S. Jones Steve, Olivier Scot, Miller Donald T., “Motion-free volumetric retinal imaging with adaptive optics spectral-domain optical coherence tomography,” in Ophthalmic Technologies XVI, F. Manns, P. G. Söderberg, A. Ho, eds. Proc. SPIE 6138, 1-7 (2006).

VIII.1b Year 6 Conference Presentations 1. Ádámkovics, M., de Pater, I., Hartung, M., Eisenhauer, F., Gibbard, S. G., Griffith, C. A., 2005. Aerosol profiles and surface albedo retrievals from multiband, near-IR, spatially-resolved spectra of Titan. AGU Fall meeting, #P43B-06

2. Andreasen Alonzo, J, G., Bell, M., Houser, K., Hunter, L., Moran, C., Scott, A., & Seagroves, S. (2005), “The California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) at UCSC, published in: Success by Design – Creating College-Bound Communities: The Work of the UC Santa Cruz Educational Partnership Center,” Moran et al. (eds) in press.

3. de Pater, I., S. Gibbard (LLNL), M. Adamkovics, F. Marchis (UC-Berkeley), A. Bouchez (Caltech), 2005. Characterization of Titan with Keck AO during the time of probe entry, AAS-DPS, #41.05, Cambridge, UK

4. Raghunandan Avesh, Jeremie Frazier, Siddharth Poonja, Austin Roorda, Scott B. Stevenson. The effect of retinal jitter on referenced and un-referenced motion discrimination thresholds. http://journalofvision.org/5/8/442/

5. Vogel C., D. Arathorn, A. Parker, and A. Roorda, "Retinal motion tracking in adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy", Proceedings of OSA Conference on Signal Recovery and Synthesis, Charlotte NC, June 2005.

6. Fernandez B. and J.A. Kubby, Photonics West, Large stroke actuators for adaptive optics, San Jose, California, January 21st – 26th 2006

7. Graham, J. R., Perrin, M. D., Max, C. E., “Infrared Imaging and Polarimetry of the Crab Nebula and Pulsar using Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics”, 2005, AAS, 207.7806

8. Helmbrecht M. A., “High-Stroke MEMS Segmented Deformable Mirrors for Adaptive

− − 115 Optics,” NASA Mirror Technology Days Conference, Huntsville, AL, Aug 16-17, 2005.

9. Helmbrecht M. A., T. Juneau, M. Hart, and N. Doble, “Performance of a High-Stroke, Segmented MEMS Deformable-Mirror Technology,” Invited Presentation, Proc. of SPIE, Vol. 6113, San Jose, CA, Jan. 2006.

10. Helmbrecht M. A., T. Juneau, M. Hart, and N. Doble, “Segmented MEMS Deformable-Mirror Technology for Space Applications,” Proc. of SPIE, Vol. 6223, Orlando (Kissimmee), FL, Apr. 2006.

11. Kubby J., University of New Mexico, Physics Colloquium, MEMS Adaptive Optics, March 24th 2006

12. Dawson Jay W., Alex D. Drobshoff, Raymond J. Beach, Michael J. Messerly, Stephen A. Payne, Aaron Brown, Deanna M. Pennington, Douglas J. Bamford, Scott J. Sharpe and David J. Cook, “ Multi-watt 589 nm fiber laser source, SPIE Photonics West Conference, January 26, 2006. 13. Descamps, P., F. Marchis, T. Michalowski, J. Berthier, D. Hestroffer, F. Vachier, F. Colas, M. Birlan, Insights on 90 Antiope double asteroid combining VLTAO and Lightcurve Observations, 2005. ACM-IAU meeting, Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

14. Doble N., D. Miller, H. Zhao, M. A. Helmbrecht, T. Juneau, and M. Hart, “Prediction of the wavefront corrector requirements for the correction of the ocular aberration in two large populations of normal human eyes,” Proc. of SPIE, Vol. 6138, San Jose, CA, Jan. 2006.

15. Lin B. C.-Y., T.-J. King, and Richard S. Muller, "Poly-SiGe MEMS actuators for adaptive optics," Photonics WEST, sponsored by SPIE, The International Society for Optical Engineering, Conference 6113, Paper 6113-28, San Jose, CA, January 25, 2006.

16. Marchis, F., + 16 co-authors, 2005. Multiplicity in the Jupiter Trojan Population: Low density of 617 Patroclus with Keck LGS AO and Perspective, AAS207, #98.07, Washington DC

17. Marchis, F., + 16 co-authors, 2005. The Orbit of 617 Patroclus Binary Trojan System from Keck LGS AO observations, AAS-DPS, #14.07, Cambridge, UK 18. Marchis, F., J. Berthier, C. Clergeon, P. Descamps, D. Hestroffer, I. de Pater, F. Vachier, On the Diversity of Binary Asteroid Orbits, 2005. ACM-IAU meeting, Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 19. Neuman William, Deanna Pennington, Jay Dawson, Alex Drobshoff, Raymond Beach, Igor Jovanovic, Zhi Liao, Stephan Payne, and C. P. J. Barty, “Fiber laser development at LLNL”, presented at the Space Laser and Optics Technology Working Group meeting, Washington, DC

20. Perrin, M. D., Graham, J. R., Kalas, P., “LGS Polarimetry and Integral Field Spectroscopy of Herbig Ae/Be Stars”, 2005, AAS, 207.7805

21. Perrin, M. D., Graham, J. R., Kalas, P., Lloyd, J. P., Max, C. E., Gavel, D. T., Pennington, D. M., & Gates, E. L., “Adaptive Optics Polarimetry of Herbig Ae/Be Stars
, In Astronomical Polarimetry: Current Status and Future Directions ASP

− − 116 Conference Series,” Edited by A. Adamson, C. Aspin, C, 2005, ASPC, 343, 379

22. Pennington D.M., “Compact fiber laser system for 589 nm laser guide star generation,” OSA Annual Meeting, Invited paper, Rochester, NY, October, 2006. 23. Pennington D.M., J. Dawson, A. Drobshoff, S. Mitchell, A. Brown, “Compact fiber laser for 589 nm laser guide star generation,” submitted to the AMOS Technical Conference, Maui, Hawaii - September 10-14, 2006. 24. Sheehy, C. D., McCrady, N., Graham, J. R., “Laser Guide Star Observations of Super Star Clusters in NGC 1569 and AO PSF Estimation in Crowded Fields”, 2005, AAS, 07.7808

25. Showalter, M. R.; Burns, J. A.; de Pater, I.; Hamilton, D. P.; Lissauer, J. J.; Verbanac, G., 2005. Updates on the Dusty Rings of Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. Dust in Planetary Systems, Proceedings of the conference held September 26-28, 2005 in Kaua’i, Hawaii. LPI Contribution No. 1280. p.130

26. Strickler, R., Bresloff, C., & Graham, J. R. “A High Resolution Solar Spectrograph for the for the Berkeley Undergraduate Astronomy Lab” 2005, AAS, 206.0205

27. Wallace J. Kent, “A Laboratory Demonstration of Calibration Wave Front Sensing”, SPIE Aerospace Conference, Orlando, May 2006.

28. Wiberg D M., Max C. E., and Gavel D. T., “A Spatial Non-dynamic LQG Controller: Part I, Application to Adaptive Optics”, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Dec. 2005.

29. Wiberg D M., Max C. E., and Gavel D. T., “A Spatial Non-dynamic LQG Controller: Part II, Theory”, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Dec. 2005.

30. Wiberg D, M, Johnson L., and Gavel D., “Adaptive optics control in wind by image translation.” Advances in Adaptive Optics II (6272) SPIE Astronomical Telescopes & Instrumentation meeting, Orlando World Center, Marriott Resort and Convention Center, Orlando FL, USA. Paper Number: 6272-104. 24 - 31 May 2006.

31. Zhang, Y., Poonja, S., Roorda, A. “Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope using a Micro-electro-mechanical (MEMS) Deformable Mirror” in Ophthalmic Technologies JVI, edited by Fabrice Manns, Per Soderberg, Arthur Ho, Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 6138 (SPIE, Bellingham, WA, 2005), paperm 61380Z

32. Zhang, Y., Roorda, A. “MEMS Deformable Mirror for Ophthalmic Imaging” in MEMS/MOEMS Components and Their Applications III, edited by Scot S. Olivier, Srinivas A. Tadigadapa, Albert K. Henning , Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 6113 (SPIE, Bellingham, WA, 2006), paperm6113-10.

− − 117 VII.1c. Dissemination activities not included elsewhere in the report.

1. CfAO Fall Retreat – 120 Attendees including Researchers, Education collaborators and industrial representatives held at UCLA Conference Center, Lake Arrowhead, November 10th to 13th 2005 2. Theme 2 Workshop – 30 attendees, held at UC Santa Cruz November 29th 2005 3. Extreme AO Workshop – 30 Attendees, held at UCSC February 27th and 29th 2006 4. Possible Enhancement of Instrumentation for Biological Applications with AO – 15 attendees, held at the CfAO, UC Santa Cruz CA on March 20 2006 5. The 2006 CfAO Spring Retreat was held at UC Santa Cruz as a series of workshops as follows. Approx. 40 people attended each workshop a. Analysis, Modeling and Simulation Workshop March 27th to 28th 2006 b. Image Processing Workshop March 29th to 31st 2006 c. Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators: Identification of the most compelling intended outcomes March 29th 2006 d. Theme 2: Next Generation Keck AO Workshop March 30th -31st 2006 e. Visible Wavelength AO Workshop, March 29th 2006 6. Gemini Coronograph Launch and future Gemini, Theme 3 collaboration at cfAO UC Santa Cruz, 15th to 17th June 2006

VIII.2. Awards and other Honors

Recipient Reason for Award Award Name and Date Award Sponsor type 1 Claire Max Excellence in the field Chabot Science Award May 20 Science and of scientific and presented by the 2006 Technology technological discovery Chabot Space and Science Center 2 David Outstanding Research ARVO 2006 May 2006 Scientific Williams in vision Science Friedenwald Award Award 3 Mark Support Ph.D studies Brachman fellowship November Fellowship Ammons 2006 4 Seth Teaching Outstanding Teaching November Education- Hornstein Award 2005 related 5 Seth Support Ph.D studies UCLA Dissertation September Fellowship Hornstein Year Fellowship 2005 6 Jessica Lu Support Ph.D studies NSF Graduate Student September Fellowship Fellowship 2005 7 Josuah A. Discover talented Adolph C. & Mary 2006-2009 Fellowship Eisner scientists and to sup- Sprague Miller Institute port basic research at for Basic Research in UC Berkeley Science 8 Remi Support Post-doctoral American Museum of September Post- Soummer Research Natural History’s 2006 to doctoral (AMNH) Kalbfleisch August Fellowship Postdoctoral Prize 2008 Fellowship 9 Sasha Support Ph.D studies AMNH Graduate September Fellowship

− − 118 Recipient Reason for Award Award Name and Date Award Sponsor type Hinkley Student fellowship 2006 10 Weihua Gao Outstanding Paper 2006 ARVO Travel May 2006 Scientific Presentation at ARVO Grant Award 11 Avesh Rag- Academic Excellence Beta Sigma Kappa January Science hunandan Silver Medal Award 2006 Related and the Alcon Laboratories Excellence Award 12 Austin Science Excellence Best Paper, SPIE May 2006 Science Roorda Meeting , San Jose Related

VIII.3 Undergraduate, M.S. and Ph.D. students

Student Name Degree(s) Years to Placement Degree 1 Glassman, Tiffany Ph.D. 6 Postdoc at SPITZER Science Center 2 Makidon, Russel Ph.D. 3 James Webb Space Telescope 3 Martin, Joy Ph.D. 5 Graduating in August 4 McCabe, Caer Ph.D. Jet Propulsion Laboratory 5 Perrin, Marshall Ph.D. 6 Currently at UC Berkeley 6 Raghunandan, Avesh Ph.D. 5 Michigan College of Optometry 7 Tanner, Angelle Ph.D. 5 Jet Propulsion Laboratory

VIII.4a The general outputs of knowledge transfer activities since the last reporting period.

Patent Name and Number Application Receipt Date (leave Inventors/Authors Date empty if pending) 1 Rapid, automatic measurement U.S. Patent March 13, 2001. of the eye’s wave aberration. #6,199,986 Williams, D.R., Vaughn, W., Singer, B., Hofer, H., Yoon, G-Y, Artal, P, Aragon, J.L., Prieto, P., Vargas, F. 2 Wavefront sensor with off- U.S. Patent July 24, 2001 axis illumination. Williams, #6,264,328 D.R. and Yoon, G-Y.

− − 119 Patent Name and Number Application Receipt Date (leave Inventors/Authors Date empty if pending) 3 Rapid, automatic measurement U.S. Patent October 9, 2001. of the eye’s wave aberration. #6,299,311 Williams, D.R., Vaughn, W., Singer, B, Hofer, H. Yoon, G- Y. 4 Apparatus and method for U.S. Patent January 15, 2002. improving vision and retinal #6,338,559 imaging. Williams, D.R., Yoon, G.Y., Guirao, A. 5 Determination of ocular U.S. Patent 10/00 January 28, 2003 refraction from wavefront #6,511,180 aberration data & design of optimum customized correction. Williams, D.R., Guirao, A. 6 Method and Apparatus for 6,890,076 May 10, 2005 Using Adaptive Optics in a Scanning Laser Ophthalmo- scope. A. Roorda 7 Synthetic Guide Star U.S. Patent 4/ 2001 March 9, 2004 Generation. S. A. Payne, R. H. 6,704,311 Page, C. A. Ebbers, and R. J. Beach 8 High power 938 nanometer Sept. 29, 2003 fiber laser and amplifier. Note: Filing Dawson, J.; Beach, R.; for European Drobshoff, A; Liao, Z.; Patent rights Pennington, D.; Payne, S.; in progress, Taylor, L.; Hackenberg, W.; Bonaccini,, D. 9 Method and Apparatus for the US Patent 11/2001 12/28/2003 Correction of Optical Signal 6639710 Wave Front Distortion Using Adaptive Optics. Peter Kurczynski, J. A. Tyson 10 Method and Apparatus for (US)Attorney 6/12/2002 Improving both Lateral and Docket No. . Axial Resolution in 217,568 Ophthalmoscopy. D. T. Miller, R. S. Jonnal, and J. Qu and International 2003 Karen E. Thorn .PCT/US03/ 18511

− − 120 Patent Name and Number Application Receipt Date (leave Inventors/Authors Date empty if pending) 11 A PZT unimorph based, high CIT.PAU.14.P 6/12/02 stroke MEMS deformable CT mirror with continuous membrane and method of making the same. E. H. Yang

12 Adaptive Optics Phoropter. October 4, Scot Olivier, Brian Bauman, 2002 Steve Jones, Don Gavel, Abdul Awwal, Stephen Eisenbies, Steven Haney 13 Repeatable Mount for MEMS October 4, Mirror System. Stephen 2002 Eisenbies, Steven Haney, 14 Actuator Apparatus and 10/705,213 November Method for Improved 2003 Deflection Characteristics, M. Helmbrecht, Clifford Knollenberg 14A Method and Apparatus for an 11/097053 April 20005 Actuator Having an 10/705,213 Intermediate Frame, M. Continuance Helmbrecht, Clifford Knollenberg 14B Electrode Shaping and Sizing 11/096395 April 2005 for an Actuator System, M. 10/705,213 Helmbrecht, Clifford Continuance Knollenberg 14C Method and Apparatus for 11/097599 April 2005 Fabricating an Actuator 10/705,213 System Having Buried Continuance Interconnect Lines, M. Helmbrecht, Clifford Knollenberg 15 Deformable Mirror Method 10/703,391 November November 2005 and Apparatus Including 2003 Bimorph Flexures and Integrated Drive M. Helmbrecht 15A Method and Apparatus for an 11/097,777 April 2005 Actuator System with 10/703,391 Integrated Control M. Continuance Helmbrecht 16 Method and Apparatus for 11/096,367 April 2005 Fabricating an Actuator Syystem. Michael Helmbrecht

− − 121 17 Application of map-seeking Utility algorithm to determine motion estimation, image dewarping and stabilization. David Arathorn 18 Algorithm for automated cone Provisional counting. David Arathorn

VIII.4b. Describe any other outputs of knowledge transfer activities made during the reporting period not listed above. An AO demonstrator was built at UC Santa Cruz and delivered to Maui Community College, where labs and instruction for a new Astronomy course have been developed to be taught a MCC by MCC instructors in collaboration with CfAO participants from the Professional Development Workshop

VIII.5 Center’s Partners

Organization Organiz- >160 Address Contact Name Type of Partner** Name ation Type* hours 1 Maui Economic Non-profit 1305 North Holopono Leslie Wilkins or Education/Diversity Y Development Street, Suite 1 Jeanne Skog Board (MEDB) Kihei, Hawaii 96753 2 Air Force Maui Military 590 Lipoa Parkway, Joe Janni Education N Optical and Suite 103 Super-computing Kihei, Hawaii 96753 Site (AMOS) 3 Maui Academic 310 Kaahumanu Mark Hoffman or Education/Diversity Y Community Kahului, HI 96732 John Pye College 4 Hartnell Academic 156 Homestead Ave Andy Newton Education/Diversity Y Community Salinas, Ca 93901 College 5 Boeing – Maui Company 535 Lipoa Pkwy, Ste Lewis Roberts Education/Research N 200 Kihei, Maui, HI 96753 6 Oceanit - Maui Company MRTC, Suite 264 Curt Leonard Education N 590 Lipoa Parkway Kihei, Maui, HI 96753 7 Akimeka - Maui Company Akimeka, LLC Andrew Vliet, Education N 1305 N. Holopono St., Cynthia Fox Suite 3 Kihei, Hawaii 96753 8 Trex - Maui Company MRTC, Suite 222 Allen Hunter Education N 590 Lipoa Parkway Kihei, Maui, HI 96753 9 Maui High Government 550 Lipoa Parkway Gene Bal Education N

− − 122 Organization Organiz- >160 Address Contact Name Type of Partner** Name ation Type* hours Performance Kihei, Maui, HI 96753 Computing Center (MHPCC) 10 Institute for Academic PO Box 0209 Mike Maberry Education N Astronomy Kula, HI 96790 11 Textron - Maui Company 535 Lipoa Parkway, Michael Reilly Education N Suite 149 Kihei, HI 96753 12 Smithsonian Observatory 645 North A'ohoku Billie Chitwood Education N Submillimeter Place Array (SMA) Hilo,Hawaii 96720 13 Exploratorium Science Center 3601 Lyon Street Barry Kluger-Bell Education Y San Francisco, CA 94123 14 W. M. Keck Observatory 65-1120 Mamalahoa Sarah Anderson Education/Research Y Observatory Hwy Kamuela, HI 96743 15 Gemini Observatory 670 N. A'ohoku Place Peter Michaud Education/Research N Observatory Hilo, Hawaii, 96720 16 Hispanic Not Profit 8415 Datapoint Drive, Tony Leiva Education/Diversity N Associate for Suite 400 Colleges and San Antonio, TX Universities 78229 (HACU) 17 University of Academic 200 W. Kawili St. Richard Crowe or Education/Diversity N Hawaii – Hilo Hilo, HI 96720-4091 Robert Fox 18 Pajaro Valley Academic 500 Harkins Slough Gary Martindale Education/Diversity N High School Road Watsonville, CA 95076 19 Center for Academic 3601 Lyon Street San Candice Brown Education Y Informal Francisco, CA 94123 Learning and Schools (CILS) 20 ALU LIKE Non profit 458 Keawe Street Doug Knight Education/Diversity N Honolulu, HI 96813 21 Institute for Academic 4761 Lower Kula Road Jeff Kuhn or Stuart Education N Astronomy - P.O. Box 209 Jefferies Maui 22 Institute for Academic 640 N Aohoku Pl # 209 Darryl Wantanabe Education N Astronomy - Hilo, HI 96720 Hilo 23 Educational Academic U.C. Santa Cruz Carrol Moran Education/Diversity Y Partnership 3004 Mission Street, Center Suite 220 Santa Cruz, CA 95060 24 Carl Zeiss- Company 5160 Hacienda Dve. Barry Kavoussi Research Y Meditec Dublin, CA 94568 25 Northrop Corporation P.O. Box 398 Albert Esquibel Education N

− − 123 Organization Organiz- >160 Address Contact Name Type of Partner** Name ation Type* hours Grumman - Maui Makawao, HI 96768 26 Lucent Company Bell Labs. David Bishop R & D Y Technologies Murray Hill N.J 27 Intellite Company 1717 Louisiana, Suite Dennis Mansell R & D N 202 NE Albuquerque NM 87110 28 Ciba Vision Vision 11460 Johns Creek R & D N Corporation Company Parkway Duluth Georgia 30097

Coherent Laser 135 South Taylor Ave. Tim Carrig R & D Y 29 Technologies Company Louisville, CO 80027 Inc. 30 Wavefront Company 14810 Central Ave, Tim Turner R & D Y Sciences Albuquerque NM 87123 31 Bausch & Lomb Company One Bausch & Lomb Peter Cox R & D Y Place Rochester NY 14603 32 MEMX Company 1368 Bordeaux Drive Jim Koonmen R & D Y Sunnyvale CA 94089 33 Lockheed ATC Company Palo Alto CA John Breakwell R & D Y 34 Pacific Disaster Agency 1305 North Holopono Sharon Mielbrecht Education N Center Street, Suite 2, Kihei, Hawaii 96753 35 Subaru Observatory 650 N. Aohoku Place Catherine Ishida Education Y Telescope Hilo, Hawaii 96720

*For organization type, please indicate whether the partner organization is a company, national laboratory, Federal government, state/local government, NGO, or other **For type of partner, please indicate whether the partner organization is a research, education, knowledge transfer, diversity, or other partner. You may list more than one type, if applicable.

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VIII.6 Summary Table

1 the number of participating institutions (all academic institutions 11 that participate in activities at the Center)

2 the number of institutional partners (total number of non- 35 academic participants, including industry, states, and other federal agencies, at the Center)

3 the total leveraged support for the current year (sum of $8,507,713 funding for the Center from all sources other than NSF- STC) [Leveraged funding should include both cash and in- kind support that are related to Center activities, but not funds awarded to individual PIs.] 4 the number of participants (total number of people who utilize 232 center facilities; not just persons directly supported by NSF) .

VIII.8. Media publicity the Center received in the reporting period. A CfAO graduate student has developed and runs planetarium shows at UCLA which will continue next year. Another planetarium show has been developed on the Galactic Center and currently classroom problems are being posted on the website. CfAO graduate students have also developed a planetarium show on Adaptive Optics. Additionally A. Ghez and her students are working on a number of professional level outreach efforts. They continue to work with Tom Lucas to produce a TV show and a dome show for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on the black holes at the center of galaxies. Another dome show is being constructed in collaboration with COSMUS for the Adler Planetarium in Chicago (was on display at AAS in January as part of “Gadgets and Gizmos" and there is a plan to incorporate this into the “Digital Universe".) A. Ghez is also working with J. Bennett to incorporate the web-based material onto the introductory astronomy text and publisher lecture material for "The Cosmic Perspective."

Lectures on the Galactic Center by Andrea Ghez Annual Halliday Public Lecture at UCSC (05/17/05) Keck Observatory, Fund-raising Lecture, Kona, Hawaii (03/16/06) UCLA Fund-raising Dinner, Beverley Hills, CA (03/22/06) UCLA Gold Shield Award Dinner, Los Angeles, CA (04/27/06) Winwood High School (05/18/06)

− − 125 Section IX. Indirect/Other Impacts IX.1 international activities Center researchers have been active on the Organizing Committees and as speakers at international conferences. Amongst the most recent are: Vision Science – “Engineering the Eye II” held June 19-21 2006 in Galway, Ireland and Astronomy – “IAU Symposium 235 Galaxy Evolution across the Hubble Time,” Aug 14-17 Prague, Czech Republic

IX.2 Other outputs, impacts, or influences related to the Center’s progress and achievement None to report

− − 126 Section X Budget

X.1 Year 7 Budgets and Expenditures Year 8 Budget and Y7 Budget and Expenditures have been forwarded to NSF.

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Appendix B – Center Organizational Chart

UCSC Oversight External Committee Advisory Board Director Program Advisory Committee Managing Director

Associate Associate Associate Associate Associate Director for Director Director, Director, for Director, Theme 1 for Theme Theme III Theme IV Knowledge Transfer

Project Leaders

Site Coordinators and Business Offices

− − 128 Appendix C – External Reviewer Reports

a. Report of the External Advisory Board Meeting 10 -13 November 2005 Lake Arrowhead, CA

Introduction The External Advisory Board met during the annual CfAO retreat held from November 10 – 13, 2005 at Lake Arrowhead, CA. The EAB met at the Retreat to take advantage of the opportunity to interact with the broader community served by the Center and to take part in a long range planning exercise held at the Retreat. The planning process extended from Friday evening to Saturday evening with discussions and input from the scientific communities represented at the retreat.

The members of the EAB are Robert Byer (chair) Stanford University, Ray Applegate, Houston, Norbert Hubin, ESO, Robert Fugate, AFRL, David Burgess, Boston College, Fiona Goodchild, UC Santa Barbara, Tom Cornsweet, Visual Pathways Inc. AZ, and Christopher Dainty, National University of Ireland, Galway. Robert Fugate and Chris Dainty were unable to attend the meeting in person but participated via a telephone conference call on the afternoon of November 13.

The External Advisory Board reports to the Vice Chancellor of Research at UC Santa Cruz, Robert L. Miller. The EAB is charged with reviewing the policies, priorities and management effectiveness of the Center. In particular, the focus of the review as requested in a letter dated November 8, 2005 from Vice Chancellor Miller is for the CfAO to begin developing new sustainable operating and support systems. The goal is to have enough new support in place such that the decline in the NSF funding two years from now will see the Center in a growth mode with new funding, new goals and objectives.

The Center, in keeping with the timeline for renewal after the first five years of operation, submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation in February 2003. The proposal covered the five years from November 2004 – October 2009. The proposal was reviewed by the NSF and was successful. The Center is to be funded for five additional years at a level of $4 million per year for years 6, 7, and 8, and at a level of $3.3 and $ 2.6 million per year for years 9 and 10. Funds are used to support the activities of Center members at universities, national laboratories and in observatory programs.

The Center prepared and submitted an Annual Report dated August 1, 2005. The report covered the activities of the Center for year 6 from November 1 2004 to October 31, 2005. The Annual Report is available to members of the EAB.

The NSF Annual Site review took place at the CfAO center at UC Santa Cruz on 19 – 21 September 2005. The Site Visit Committee was led by chair Hagop Injeyan (Northrup Grumman Corporation). The Site Visit Committee completed its report that covered the range of activities of the Center including progress in each of the Themes. The purpose of the site visit was to assess the progress and accomplishments of the CfAO in research, education, and management. The site visit provides a complete overview and review of Center progress and achievements. Because of the recent site visit, the EAB will provide a complimentary review focused on the strategic planning activities of the Center.

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CfAO Strategic Planning The CfAO held a summer retreat on August 4 – 6, 2005 to discuss and consider the transition opportunities for the Center. The retreat led to a summary of options that were presented to the attendees of the Retreat by Director Claire Max. The retreat also led to input from the community through a ‘blog’ website. A facilitator led the August retreat planning process to maximize the value of the retreat.

The November CfAO retreat was organized into three plenary sessions on the topic of the future of the Center beyond the NSF funding. In the first session Claire Max reviewed and summarized the outcome of the CfAO Summer Retreat and planning workshop. The summary was followed by a breakout session in which all members of the CfAO were encouraged to frame options and to present them to the group as both a posted sheet and verbal description. These options were organized into topics along the lines of future opportunities for Centers and future opportunities for Education and Outreach. The second Plenary Session devoted to the process listed the options that had been created and further organized and sorted them. The topics that were of interest were then assigned volunteers to take the topic a step further and develop preliminary plans for moving forward. These breakout groups met on Saturday evening. The third step in this process was a plenary session on Sunday morning to finalize the plans for Future Working Groups and Workshops. The goal of this session was to assign team leaders and teams for developing the promising ideas on the Future of the CfAO such that progress could be made following the Retreat.

The outcome of the planning process for the future of the CfAO was to form study groups in areas of interest for the future of the CfAO. Below is a brief description of the study groups by topic. The study groups leaders and members are available at the CfAO site.

The study groups were assembled into three areas: 1) groups with an emphasis on the creation of new centers; 2) groups to support education and outreach, and 3) groups focused on the next generation Adaptive Optics science programs. The exercise led to key topics and ideas that were identified for study by breakout groups in support of the future opportunities for the CfAO.

Centers Options considered for future Centers include; A DoD Multi-University Research Initiative (MURI) Center. The goal is to decide the key technical goals, prepare a white paper and work to establish a call for proposals under the MURI funding program. A second center approach was to investigate the potential for an NSF Engineering Research Center. Here the next step is talk with the NSF about the ERC call for proposals and to decide how the CfAO best fits into the ERC center concept. A third proposed center was the Center for functional imaging of the eye. This proposed center is a natural outcome of the very successful research in AO for the imaging of the eye. The fourth center concept was a new center in Hawaii with the goal of education and outreach with the combination of adaptive optics and education at the advanced technology and engineering level.

Education and Outreach One approach to the future in education and outreach is professional degree training in optics. This concept will be considered and evaluated for future support. A second area considered was to develop laboratory courses in hands-on AO systems as an extension of the Summer School course. A third area to be studied is the extension of the Professional

− − 130 Development Workshop (PDW). The fourth area to be considered is future internships and short courses for both Hawaii and the mainland.

AO science and future The third area for which breakout groups were organized was the future of AO science and future projects for which AO is a critical element. One breakout group was organized around the next-generation Keck AO system. A second group was formed to explore visible-light AO for astronomy. A third area of promise for the future was AO science connected to large survey telescopes. A fourth area was to investigate ExAO projects for ground and space based observatories. Industrial Partners A final area was a breakout group to examine issues of industrial partners for both an industrial affiliates program and for a possible future ERC. Technology transfer is an issues related to this study.

EAB and CfAO discussion The EAB and the leadership of the CfAO met on Sunday over lunch and into the afternoon. Two members of the EAB unable to attend the retreat in person joined the discussion by telephone (Chris Dainty and Bob Fugate). The discussion was open and frank and focused on the key issue faced by the CfAO including advanced planning for a transition from NSF support to the future.

The discussion opened with a brief summary of the past year EAB findings and recommendations and a request for a response to the issues identified. Last year one key issue was the relation of CfAO to the major telescope projects, the TMT for example, and to the development and delivery of major equipment to observatories. The CfAO has taken the role of understanding the fundamental underlying technology and supporting the development of key technologies to enable advanced AO concepts to be implemented. The CfAO is involved with the TMT but the TMT as a project is independent of the CfAO. In another area of concern, the CfAO has identified complimentary areas of emphasis relative to the AODP program. Further, the development of the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics at UC Santa Cruz has been a major benefit to both AO and to the CfAO.

Last year the EAB heard concerns expressed by graduate students about advising and about career development. The response of the CfAO and the discussion led to suggested approaches to address the concerns. One suggestion was to develop a clear statement about the expectations for a career path; truth in advertising with regard to professional opportunities in AO and in astronomy. A second suggestion was to work to document the concerns raised and to use modern communication technology, for example, a blog, to allow graduate students to communicate about broad issues of concern. Other suggestions were to make existing documents more accessible, schedule a one-hour session at the retreat on career development, and perhaps to organize a panel on career change and opportunities in industry. The key role of the faculty advisor as a mentor was also discussed.

An item for discussion from the EAB report of the prior year was the development of technical guidelines for the laser source for the laser guide star. The role that the CfAO can play is to coordinate the development of specifications for the sodium yellow laser source. This would assist industry in understanding the requirements and perhaps assist the AO community by opening an avenue for commercial development of the laser sources.

Strategic planning for the future of the CfAO was the topic of discussion at the retreat and the main topic of discussion for the EAB and the CfAO leadership.

− − 131 Claire Max summarized the outcome of the CfAO August retreat. What was now apparent was the need for core funding of about $400k to support the CfAO operations in support of its community building, shared information, and educational and outreach programs. One proposal was to seek a Multi-Campus Research Unit within the UC system and seek support at the $400k level to maintain the core activities of the CfAO after the NSF program is completed. Other ideas that were explored, and are now part of the breakout group process, is other centers such as a MURI center under DoD support, and Engineering Research Center under NSF support, and a Center for Functional Imaging of the Eye. Preparing and submitting proposals to these programs requires advanced planning and perhaps a two-year cycle to complete. A related issue of concern on any university campus is the ability to maintain adequate space. At this time it appears that UC Santa Cruz will continue to support the CfAO and related activities in the current space. There was enthusiasm expressed for continuing the CfAO concept of shared technology with astronomy and retinal imaging with potential medical applications.

The discussion focused next on the Education and Outreach programs. The concern expressed was that this very successful program needs time to identify and to develop alternative funding sources. A second concern is that the program needs time and resources to describe and publish the elements and outcomes of the current programs. The issues discussed were the topics of study by the breakout groups. Profession training and a degree program in optics, a laboratory component of the summer school courses, a certificate program for training in optics and AO, and internship and short courses in Hawaii and the mainland. One recent success has been the tri-isle effort at the Community College level for the development of technology courses in Hawaii. A goal is to keep this program going and expanding because it has high value added as it reaches directly to the local communities on Maui, the Big Island and Kauai.

The future research opportunities were discussed. In the future, faculty members associated with the CfAO and its follow-on will likely obtain research funding by competitive individual grants. The Center will facilitate collaboration and communication across AO disciplines and thus add strength to submitted proposals. The breakout study groups identified promising areas for future development and research. Members of the EAB added to the list of future applications of AO and pointed to opportunities in confocal microscopy, communications, lithography, and laser beam propagation in turbulence. These research areas are examples of topics that could fit into and Engineering Research Center under NSF support.

The advanced planning done at the CfAO August retreat, followed by the bottom up breakout group sessions at the November retreat are timely and positive steps toward the strategic planning required to support the CfAO in the future beyond the current NSF Center time horizon. The next step is to capitalize on the break out groups and encourage the leaders and the members of the groups to complete a study of their respective areas. This step was recognized as not an easy task by the CfAO leadership. However, the leadership has made a good start and has identified promising approaches to defining a future for adaptive optics and its applications to science, engineering, and medicine.

Robert Byer (chair) Stanford University, Ray Applegate, Houston, David Burgess, Boston College, Tom Cornsweet, Visual Pathways Inc., Christopher Dainty National University of Ireland, Galway. Robert Fugate, AFRL, Fiona Goodchild, UC Santa Barbara, Norbert Hubin, ESO.

− − 132 b. The Program Advisory Committee The Program Advisory Committee met June 14, 2006 with members of the CfAO executive committee. The main purpose of this PAC meeting is to provide advice on the handling of the Year 8 proposals. We also offer suggestions for the next three years of activities and the next two years of proposals. This report summarizes the PAC conclusions. Present were:

PAC: Michael Hart, Stanley Klein (chair), Carrol Moran, Malcolm Northcott and Rod Ogawa

CfAO: Claire Max, Jerry Nelson, Chris Le Maistre, Lisa Hunter, Scot Olivier, David Williams (via videoconferencing) and Austin Roorda, Don Gavel

The meeting began with Claire Max giving an overview of the past year, followed by detailed presentations of the four themes. Funding decisions of the Proposal Review Committee were discussed. The PAC supports those decisions with a few minor comments below. One fascinating point in Claire's report was her analysis of the blog discussion that took place in preparation for the Strategic Planning retreat held in August 2005. There seemed to be general agreement that one of the most important achievements of the CfAO has been in the development of connections of people across astronomy and vision science, across education and research and across different institutions. Further comments on this community development will be made under our Theme 4 discussion. : We suggest that for the next three years a significant portion of the budgets of the four themes be devoted to research projects that have a concrete plan for obtaining sustained post-NSF funding and sustained post-NSF community cohesion. In order for this to happen, careful thought should be placed on the calls for proposals for Year 9 and Year 10.

We believe it is important that UCSC allow the Center to retain its building after NSF funding ends. It provides a physical nucleus for the community that CfAO members have said they value so highly. Without such a central facility, the community will assuredly collapse.

Theme 1. Education and Human Resources It is clear that a lot of work has been done in some very innovative approaches to the teaching of science and technology under this theme. CfAO is to be applauded for this struggle against the tide of generally poorer quality education in these fields in the US. Of particular note is the success in recruiting and retaining under-represented groups. It is our sense that the bottom-up approach exemplified by the numerous programs launched by the Theme 1 team, followed by replication of these around the country, is the right way to tackle our national problem, in contrast to misguided top-down efforts such as no-child-left-behind.

It is also apparent that providing graduate students with opportunities to understand and experience inquiry based learning has had a profound effect on the graduate students involved. The development of this model of the Professional Development Workshop for graduate students has the potential to change the future teaching of science courses in the university, a change that is needed to create a broader diversity of students majoring in science and engineering. The collaborative effort between the Center for Adaptive Optics and the Center for Informal Learning and Schools has been extremely fruitful for the transformations in teaching practices of many of the graduate students. We feel that this model program together with the activities in Hawaii merits the attention of a development specialist to seek funding to sustain these programs.

− − 133 Because CfAO is a national Center, there is a responsibility to leave a legacy of national importance in each of its principal fields of endeavor. This is as true for Theme 1 as for the technical Themes. In the latter cases, the development of breakthrough AO components, or mathematical or observational techniques will constitute the legacy. For Theme 1, ongoing educational programs that provide a national role model such as the highly successful Exploratorium are desirable. We encourage the CfAO leadership to explore ways to support Lisa in promulgating her team's work so that it can continue to grow into the future. In particular, we encourage CfAO to pursue establishing the Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators, which would institutionalize the Center's highly successful education programs at UC Santa Cruz. This center would serve the dual purposes of 1) continuing to provide graduate students in science and engineering with opportunities to improve and apply their teaching skills and 2) develop, test and disseminate a promising model for improving education in science and engineering.

In summary, the PAC worries that the numerous wonderful programs based in Hawaii and Santa Cruz makes it difficult for the personnel on this theme to spend much time on raising funds for the post-Year 10 epoch and for institutionalizing those programs to ensure survival after NSF funding. The Hawaii education and outreach programs can bring important long term benefits including the appreciation of science and astronomy on the islands. An increase in funding to Theme 1 could expand this themes' personnel to help these programs survive beyond year 10.

Theme 2. AO for Extremely Large Telescopes We strongly support the Director's view that it is important to undertake telescope tests of the new AO technologies under development. CfAO is in a strong position to make such ground- breaking tests, with significant funding of hardware efforts in MEMS devices and sodium guide star lasers and, through its membership, unique access to large telescope facilities.

Having read the proposals that were denied funding, we concur with the choices made in that regard by CfAO. In the case of the two laser proposals, and in particular the one from LLNL, we believe careful oversight by CfAO is essential. Progress has been painfully slow and rosy-tinted prospects described in previous proposals have not materialized. In the case of the Chicago effort, it is encouraging to note the significant step forward in mounting the laser on the Palomar 5 m that has lead to a closed AO loop.

Theme 3. Extreme AO Theme 3 funding is devoted largely to the support of the Gemini ExAOC work. This is indeed the leading US effort to develop an instrument dedicated to finding extrasolar planets, but it is already receiving very substantial funding from the NSF through a separate line. It is therefore essential that the much more modest CfAO support be allocated in such a way that the results are of general interest to the ExAO community, and not restricted in value to the development of this one instrument. As an example, we note the potentially broad value of the science case in Graham's proposal. However, because the CfAO awards are to members of the Gemini team, there will be an entirely natural tendency for the focus to narrow. It is the responsibility of CfAO leadership to see that their funding is used to address a broader perspective.

Theme 4. AO for Vision Science Year 7 has been a productive year for the three main funded groups (Williams, Roorda, Miller). For Year 8 seven proposals were funded. Nearly $500,000 went to the three main groups directly. Another $140,000 went to two groups closely associated with developments on Roorda's

− − 134 instrument. $165,000 went to two MEMS development projects. Based on the submitted proposals the PAC concurs with this allocation of funding.

The PAC had some concern that more could be done to achieve the legacy of community building that Claire Max emphasized in her discussion of the outcome of the Strategic Planning blog mentioned above. The completion of the book "Adaptive Optics for Vision Science" is a major step in the right direction of extending access of AO to a wider community. Likewise, the Bioengineering Research Partnership grants from NIH are wonderful for getting several AO instruments into clinical use.

We would like to make the following additional suggestion for Vision Science AO community building. The October 2006 and 2007 Fall Vision Meetings will be held in Rochester and Berkeley (both centers of AO vision activities). CfAO could sponsor a late night session at each of these meetings to discuss approaches for expanding the AO Vision Science community. The October meeting date provides adequate time for informing researchers about funding possibilities in the last two years of NSF funding that could be directed to community building and discussion of possible post Year 10 funding opportunities.

Proposal 4.10 (AO Microscopy for Deep Tissue Imaging) was given a Theme 4 number but the funding was placed in an administrative category. This proposal was for a post-doc to do feasibility studies on deep tissue microscopy of living cells for a potential new NSF Center proposal. The PAC fully supports seed funding that enables future funding.

Summary: As a summary we mention two of the recommendations of the very detailed NSF report based on their Sept 19-21 site visit.

1) The NSF report recommendation for institutionalizing the Education and Outreach programs in Hawaii and UC is worth emphasizing. CfAO's involvement can help build the needed community support for astronomy on the islands. The NSF report expressed concern about whether the part time staff on the Big Island was sufficient. In our Theme 1 comments we expressed similar staffing concerns. We therefore are recommending that a full time development officer be hired to create sustainability in the program.

2) In the category of knowledge transfer the NSF site reviewers encouraged "CfAO to consider organizing a major international conference dedicated to astronomical and vision science adaptive optics". The PAC supports that wonderful idea.

Sincerely,

Michael Hart Stanley Klein Carrol Moran Malcolm Northcott Rod Ogawa

− − 135 Appendix D: Media Publicity Materials

CfAO Research on the Web & Planetarium and Other Activities at UCLA A. Ghez and her students at UCLA are developing a web-site to make their research available to the general community; http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~ghezgroup/gc

Press releases:

Keck Pictures of Uranus show Best View from the Ground: http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/news/science/uranus/index.html

Faint new ring discovered around Uranus http://www.keckobservatory.org/news/science/051222
uranus/index.html

Huygens Probe Arrives at Titan: http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/news/science/huygens/index.html; http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/01/14
huygens2.shtml

First triple asteroid system found http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/08/10
sylvia.shtml

Rubble-Pile Minor Planet Sylvia and Her Twins http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2005/pr-21-05.html

Trojan asteroid Patroclus: comet in disguise? http://www.keckobservatory.org/news/science/060201
patroclus/index.html

Binary asteroid in Jupiter’s orbit may be icy comets from solar system’s infancy http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/02/01
patroclus.shtml

Keck telescope captures faint new ring around Uranus http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/12/22
rings.shtml

Blue ring discovered around Uranus: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/04/06
bluering.shtml 16

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