Design a low-order wavefront sensor for the Large UV/Optical/Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR).

We can determine the existence of life outside of earth by analyzing the spectra of exoplanets (planets outside our solar system). Such direct imaging will provide the capability to thoroughly characterize an exoplanet’s atmosphere. Direct imaging of exoplanets, however, has many technical challenges and difficulties: scattering and diffraction of light and the large difference in contrast, which is the ratio of brightness between the bright star and the dimmer planet. A coronagraph is an… Show more We can determine the existence of life outside of earth by analyzing the spectra of exoplanets (planets outside our solar system). Such direct imaging will provide the capability to thoroughly characterize an exoplanet’s atmosphere. Direct imaging of exoplanets, however, has many technical challenges and difficulties: scattering and diffraction of light and the large difference in contrast, which is the ratio of brightness between the bright star and the dimmer planet. A coronagraph is an optical device that manipulates the diffraction of starlight and creates a region of high contrast (dark hole) where the dimmer planets can be seen. While in principle the level of contrast required for direct imaging of exoplanets can be achieved by stellar coronagraphic imaging, the resulting dark hole is highly sensitive to phase aberrations.In order to effectively suppress starlight for exoplanet imaging applications, low-order wavefront aberrations entering a coronagraph such as tip-tilt, defocus and coma must be determined and compensated for. A sparse-aperture mask (SAM) can be integrated in the telescopic imaging system to make precise estimate of low-order wavefront aberrations. In this technique, the starlight rejected by the coronagraph's focal plane stop is collimated to a relay pupil, where the mask forms an interference fringe pattern on a detector and the phase aberrations are inferred from this fringe pattern. At Princeton’s High Contrast Imaging Lab (HCIL), I am working on designing the SAM low-order wavefront sensor for future space-based coronagraphic missions. Show less

Responsibilities:Grading, running review sessions, possible classroom demonstrations for Remote Sensing Lab, Orbital Mechanics, and Applied Differential Equations.

Apply boundary element method (BEM) to solve electromagnetic, heat transfer and Stokes flow equations in order to model the temperature, force and velocity fields of the medium produced by AC electric currents at micro scales.

TA for Differential Equations and Matrix Analysis.