Laboratory for Innovation in Opto-Mechanics

Project Information

LIOM

Grant agreement ID: 101087032

DOI

10.3030/101087032

EC signature date 11 November 2022

Start date 1 February 2023

End date 31 July 2028

Funded under

• Widening participation and spreading excellence

Total cost

€ 2 500 000,00

EU contribution

€ 2 500 000,00

Coordinated by

INSTITUTO DE ASTROFISICA DE CANARIAS
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LIOM (Laboratory for Innovation in Opto-Mechanics)

Reporting period: 2023-02-01 to 2024-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

This project (the Laboratory for Innovative Opto-Mechanics, LIOM) will make it possible for a large optical system to resolve and measure faint exoplanetary sources near stars that are not accessible with current telescopes.
This is the scientific overarching aim of LIOM, to be achieved by creating and sustaining an excellent ERA Chairs optics and photonics' technology group of experimental physicists and astronomers, engineers, and technicians within a progressive optics and photonics technology environment. Under the leadership of the international researcher and research manager, Prof. Jeffrey Kuhn, we build a collaboration that can lead the development of future astronomical telescopes - be they on the ground, space, or the moon.
The LIOM objective is to build new capacities at the IAC, Canary Islands, based on new optical and optomechanical technologies that are critical to the next generation of telescopes aimed at high-contrast imaging of exoplanets around bright stars. These are essential to enable powerful searches for “exolife” beyond the solar system. We call this an "ExoLife Finder (ELF)" telescope, but it’s direct imaging technology is equally important, for example, for the commercial study of man-made satellites in terrestrial orbits to the CISLunar environment. LIOM optics’ technologies will also have important social benefits, for example the new ultra-thin and light mirrors created by LIOM would be key components of Earth-orbiting laser-linked satellites that will constitute the next phase of the "world-wide web" - the space-based global optical internet.
With the implementation of this ERA Chair project, the IAC will enlarge its outstanding flagship in Europe and beyond, specifically in the field of optical remote sensing technologies for astronomical purposes, exemplifying not only the achievements in R&I and its capacity development or competitiveness, but also the creation of synergies with leading American, European, and African institutions.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

LIOM is creating a vibrant IAC environment to complete its milestones and sustain research beyond IAC and EU funding. In fact, LIOM is now a separate department within the IAC and IACTEC. Its physical laboratory and staff are a new division within IACTEC. Also, several collaborations have been initiated to enhance the reach and viability of LIOM technology for sustaining its future beyond the ERA Chair grant. The LIOM photonics group is collaborating with UCLA (USA) to put the first photonic spectrograph into an IAC small-satellite. LIOM group is working with Breakthrough Foundation and Schmidt Futures to use the SELF technology as a vehicle to enhance optics and photonics technology on the African continent by collaborating with a Rwanda university and the Rwanda space agency.
LIOM has also begun negotiation with the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics - CIOMP (China) to become a supporting partner for SELF and ELF. LIOM has contributed to IAC HORIZON-WIDERA-2023 Teaming for Excellence CELESTE proposal and the ERC 2024 Synergy Grant SELF proposal for the optical structure of SELF as well as to develop a long-term technical capability at the IACTEC related to photonics and optics.
Tangible evidence of direct scientific and technical achievements includes an SPIE preprint, and a pending mirror polishing patent application. Preprint results for image domain machine learning phase measurement algorithms are imminent.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The LIOM group has made good progress toward creating curvature mirrors. Beyond establishing the technology to control the laser system to “stress polish” glass, the group has now calibrated physical and gantry laser parameters to correct local glass curvature in flat glass. For this LIOM has built an interferometric metrology system for measuring curved and flat mirrors with nm accuracy. Centimeter-scale kiln-slumped elliptical glass surfaces have been created and work is in progress to laser polish these non-planar surfaces to improve their optical quality as mirrors.
Also, wavefront measurement algorithms and solutions based on pre-subaperture cophasing have been demonstrated using supervised machine learning methods. The LIOM machine learning expert has demonstrated these solutions with IAC gpu-based solutions. LIOM has also initiated collaboration with another IAC machine learning expert and other institutions from within the LIOM advisory group (University of Hawaii, Georgia State University and Odyssey international). This team is creating a supervised solution to generalize reinforcement learning techniques, and is working to systematically create “dark spot” SELF diffractive PSFs. Furthermore, a 1-m scale nano-ELF demonstration of imaging and phasing with a Fizeau optical telescope like ELF is under construction in the IACTEC/LIOM laboratory.

Visit of EU P.O. and Widening officers