Our Team
Principal Investigator
Dr. Michael Hart
Michael is an Associate Professor in the College of Optical Sciences. He specializes in the implementation of advanced adaptive optics for large astronomical telescopes and other optical systems, including tomographic wavefront sensing and deformable mirror development. He was the Principal Investigator for several implementations of adaptive optics at the 6.5 m MMT, and led work to equip the twin 8.4 m Large Binocular Telescope with multi-laser guided adaptive optics. Additional research focuses on the development of physically constrained image deconvolution and video enhancement algorithms, automatic target recognition, object-independent wavefront sensing, and the recovery of 3-D object structure from multiscopic observations.
Graduate Students
R. Philip Scott
I graduated from Brigham Young University — Idaho with a B.S. in Physics after completing a thesis on optical measurements of semi-transparent metalic films. After working with IMSAR LLC for a year as a RF Test Engineer, I headed to the University of Arizona for a graduate study in Optics. I’m currently a PhD student with a M.S. in Optical Sciences working to advance the field of adaptive optics. Projects include the design and build of a turbulence simulator, testing of novel optical surfaces, Na laser guide star magnetometry, and more.
Undergraduate Students
Zack Waters
Zack is an undergraduate senior at the University of Arizona and is pursuing a degree in Optical Sciences and Engineering with a minor in Mathematics. He has spent the past two semesters studying modern astronomical optics and imaging through random media under Dr. Michael Hart, for whom he is now a research assistant. His work with Dr. Hart is focused on the development of an adaptive optics system for the Kuiper 61” telescope on Mt. Bigelow in addition to aiding the team’s senior PhD student R. Philip Scott with designing optical components of a turbulence simulator.
Lauren H. Schatz
I graduated from University of California Santa Cruz in 2015 with a B.S. in Physics. Throughout my undergraduate career I worked in Adaptive Optics, culminating in a Senior Thesis on the anisoplanatism characterization of the ShaneAO system for the 3m Shane Telescope at Lick Observatory. I am continuing my love of AO at University of Arizona, where I am a second year Master’s student in Optical Sciences. My current research topics include wavefront sensing and high contrast imaging. I am active on multiple projects, including the design and construction of a wide field imaging Shack Hartmann WFS test bed for tomographic wavefront sensing. I am helping to characterize and commission the Advanced Research Daylight Imaging (ARDI) system for the Airforce at AMOS, and am working with the High Contrast Imaging Group at Steward Observatory to develope a Pyramid WFS testbed and experiments. I am active in the Optics community, serving as Treasurer of Woman in Optics (WiO), and a member of Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE).
Joseph Rice
I am a senior in the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences pursuing an undergraduate degree in Optical Engineering with minors in Mathematics and Materials Science and Engineering. My current areas of focus are adaptive optics as well as opto-materials and their applications. While researching with Dr. Hart I have worked with the development of a prototype deformable mirror, primarily the polishing and fabrication of a novel ceramic material and development of a custom mount for the mirror. I use several polishing methods, such as CNC machining, and measuring techniques, such as interferometry, to accomplish this goal. Projects also include testing of sensors and the design of an AO interfacing mount for the Kuiper telescope.
Moonseob Jin
I graduated with a B.S. in Precision Mechanical Engineering, a division of Mechanical and Aerospace System Engineering, and a M.S. in Mechanical System Engineering from Chonbuk National University (CBNU) in Korea. My studies focused on high-speed metrology including digital holography, interferometry, and ellipsometry and my dissertation in the Masters program was about the development of interferometric spectroscopic ellipsometer. As a part-time research assistant at the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS), I worked to develop an ellipsometric biomedical instrument. I am currently a Masters student working with Dr. Hart here at the College of Optical Sciences. I’m focusing on our A.O. Kit, specifically programming for operation of the system with C++ and Matlab. This includes API, GUI, and data communication between Matlab and C++. Additionally, I’m working on designing a ceramic telescope in Zemax and Solidworks.
Lucas Sanchez
My name is Lucas Sanchez and I am from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I am a senior majoring Optical Sciences and minoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Mathematics. After joining the lab in May, I have started a project which involves autofocusing a lens on top of a computer-controlled translation stage onto a camera. This project is developing several of my passions including: Optical Engineering, Image Processing, Motion Control, and Algorithm Development.
Ryan Luder
Check back soon for updates.
Madison Jean
I am from Chandler, AZ and a junior here at the University of Arizona. I am currently working on my bachelors degree in Optical Science and Engineering, with minors in Astronomy and Mathematics. I joined the lab in September of 2016 and have since been working on wavelength dependent characterization of Multi-Order Diffractive lenslet arrays as well as assisting Zach Watson with work on his HTI instrument.
Shauna LeFebvre
I’m from Massachusetts and received my B.S. in physics from Union College in Schenectady, NY. I also minored in mathematics and ancient Greek. During my undergrad career I did research projects on Rayleigh scattering and single photon interference. I’m excited to start my second year at Arizona!