Adaptive optics has been under development for well over 40 years. It is an indisputable necessity for all major ground-based astronomical telescopes and is the foundation for laser and wavefront sensor design. Lighter Side of Adaptive Optics is a nontechnical explanation of optics, the atmosphere, and the technology for "untwinkling" the stars. While interweaving a fictional romantic relationship as an analogy to adaptive optics, and inserting satire, humor, and philosophical rants, Tyson makes a di
Table of Contents
- Foreword
- 1 Love Is in the Air
- What is adaptive optics?
- Summary of the first chapter
- 2 The Atmosphere Has Gas
- The speed of light through stuff
- The wedding day
- Untwinkling the stars
- Seemingly random thoughts about statistics
- Big blobs and little blobs
- Summary of the second chapter
- 3 Adaptive Optics Systems and Some Cool Things About Light Beams
- How a relationship is like adaptive optics
- It doesn’t phase me anymore
- Summary of the third chapter
- 4 Clever Wavefront Sensors
- Shearing interferometer
- Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor
- Curvature sensor
- Pyramid sensor
- Summary of the fourth chapter
- 5 Laser Guide Stars, the Beacons in the Night
- Scattering is the problem
- Send in the cavalry!
- Scattering is the solution
- Thank you, sodium
- The strange case of atmospheric tilt and laser guide stars
- Summary of the fifth chapter
- 6 Mirrors that Get Bent Out of Shape
- Segmented mirrors
- Continuous-faceplate deformable mirrors
- Bimorph mirrors
- Micro-electrical-mechanical systems
- Summary of the sixth chapter
- 7 Computers That Shouldn’t Crash
- A daunting problem
- Marriage counseling may work
- Summary of the seventh chapter
- 8 Other Ways To Do It
- Image sharpening
- Phase diversity
- Multidither and other hill-climbing doodads
- Summary of the eighth chapter
- 9 Putting the System Together
- Professor Smythe builds a system
- Barbara, Kenneth, and bananas
- The f-number dilemma
- The irreducible problem of multiconjugate adaptive optics
- The alphabet soup of adaptive optics acronyms
- Summary of the ninth chapter
- 10 Getting the Blasted Thing to Work Right or Even Work at All
- It’s not over until it’s over
- Summary of the tenth chapter
- 11 Fun with Shining Lasers into Your Eyes
- Summary of chapter the eleventh
- 12 A Happy Ending
- Backword: The Leslie B. Smythe Story
- Bibliography (Some other books about adaptive optics that aren’t nearly as funny as this one)
- Index
Foreword
A few months ago I received an email from Tim Lamkins whose official title at the time was Content Acquisition and Development Specialist, Publications for SPIE. SPIE used to be called SPIE—The International Society for Optical Engineering, but now it is called SPIE.
Tim was inquiring whether I would like to write another book on adaptive optics. My immediate reply was “No!”
Tim was persistent, especially with the job title “Content Acquisition and Development Specialist.” I told him that there were plenty of good books on adaptive optics already, some of which I wrote myself, and some of which were written by others who copied all my best ideas, but wrote them under their own names. I told Tim that there wasn’t much need for another book yet. “Maybe in a few years,” I said.
Tim was not taking “No!” for an answer. He explained that the book was to be for a wider audience than the one-billionth of one percent of the population of the world who normally would buy an optics book. His vision for this book was “for the masses.” No math was to be involved.
I was still reluctant. I know Tim was just getting ready to offer a large advance for the book, much like Stephen King would get I presume, but he didn’t need to cut the check he told me that it could be “humorous.”
His argument was persuasive. I could write a funny book about adaptive optics! So, here it is. If you don’t find it greatly informative, technically perfect, and somewhat amusing, tell Tim.
Bob Tyson
November 2008
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
