Simona Lombardo

Post-Doctoral Researcher

Curved detectors for astronomical application

Optical Design -- Detectors -- Transients -- ULSB

Current Research Summary:

Due to the increasing dimension, complexity and cost of the future astronomical surveys, new technologies enabling more compact and simpler systems are required. The development of curved detectors allows us to enhance the performances of the optical system used (telescope or astronomical instrument), while keeping the system more compact. This new technology allows one to have a compact and almost refractive elements-free telescope design, that is particularly suitable for ultra-low surface brightness (ULSB) observations, and a wide field of view that can be used for gravitational wave electro-magnetic counterparts search.

My research focuses on the construction of the compact and almost fully reflective Schmidt telescope (CASTLE) aimed at testing the curved detector technologies. This telescope delivers a Point Spread Function (PSF) with extremely-compact wings, key factor for the detection of ULSB features in the sky. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of this project, I performed end-to-end photon Monte Carlo simulations and I characterized a set of prototypes of curved detectors made in collaboration with CEA-LETI.

Prior Research:

PhD in physics at Humboldt University of Berlin (Germany)