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Far Infrared Terahertz Space Optics
National University Of Ireland, Maynooth, County Kildare.
Contact: Dr J Anthony Murphy
Tel: +353-1-7083771
Fax: +353-1-7083313
Email: anthony.murphy@may.ie
Contact: Dr Creidhe O'Sullivan
Tel: +353-1-7083953
Fax: +353-1-7083313
Email: creidhe.osullivan@may.ie
Web: www.nuim.ie
The Far-Infrared Terahertz Space Optics Group at NUI Maynooth has expertise in the design and modelling of astronomical instrumentation in the far-infrared. The group is actively collaborating in two separate consortia of scientists and engineers from Europe and the US involved in the design and development of the Planck Surveyor satellite and the Herschel Space Observatory. In particular, we are involved in the electromagnetic characterisation of the unusual telescope configuration of Planck, as well as in the novel horn antenna developments of its HFI instrument.
Our accurate optical models of the system are required to enable Planck to achieve its challenging main science goal of the full characterisation of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). We are key members of the optical design team of the heterodyne HIFI instrument for Herschel, one of ESA's Horizon 2000 cornerstone missions.
Furthermore, we are working with optics experts at Cambridge, the Space Research Organisation of the Netherlands (SRON) and the UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh on an ESA funded contract to evaluate optical design strategies appropriate to space missions. Our interests in the optical design of CMB experiments continues through our active involvement in the novel QUEST telescope to be located in Chile, while we also collaborate with Cambridge on problems in quasi-optics of a more theoretical nature.
The NUIM IR/THz Space Optics Group has expertise in the following areas of submillimetre-wave space optical design:
- horn antenna modelling including specialised profiled horns
- partially coherent few-moded systems
- physical optics and polarisation analysis of electrically large antennas and telescopes
- quasi-optical beam guide analysis
- development of CAD tools for far-IR optical system design
  
From Left to Right: HFI Focal Plane Instrument, Planck Surveyor Satellite, Herschel Space Observatory
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