Job Details: Physical and Statistical Optics Observational Astronomy Adaptiv Optics
Current interests:
We devise ways to detect narrow spectral lines from planets near distant stars, pointing to possible existence of life on them. One project involves a unique and novel device for detection of bio-molecules, constructing it and testing it in an observatory. Another project deals with the possibility of planets born in stellar explosions, unlike the common theory of their birth around young stars. This theory has to be tested in simulations and calculations. Other projects deals with stellar interferometry, to resolve stars which are too small even for large telescopes. They involve construction of laboratory models of amplitude and intensity interferometers, possibly for space deployment.
In studying the optics of the eye, we explained why our retina is inverted, the photoreceptors being behind thick neural layers. We are also constructing devices for super-resolution of the living retina, down to the cell level