This U.S.-Mexico award will support a collaboration between the Institute of Astronomy, University of Hawaii and the Instituto de Astronomia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), on adaptive optics. The research groups will be headed by Dr. J. Elon Graves, University of Hawaii and Dr. Luis Salas Cazales, for UNAM. Adaptive optics (AO) is a real-time technique to compensate for image degradation produced by the turbulent atmosphere. It requires a reference light source or `guide star` to sense the wave-front distortions and a deformable mirror to correct them. The Institute of Astronomy in Hawaii has developed a unique system of adaptive optics for astronomy, and are now developing a secondary mirror technology to be used with the new generation of telescopes. Going from present adaptive systems to systems which use adaptive secondary mirrors will result in very large improvements in the performance of telescopes. For the proposed collaboration between the two Institutes, the Mexican side will benefit from the expertise at the University of Hawaii, while the U.S. side will benefit from the optical capabilities at the UNAM Institute, which will allow both institutions to develop deformable secondaries for the new generation of large telescopes.
