Andrea Alejandra Hidalgo Valadez

PhD Student

Visible and Infrared Astronomical Instrumentation

Spectroscopy -- Optics testing and verification -- Cryogenics -- Solar System

Current Research Subject Title: Andrea Alejandra Hidalgo Valadez

Current Research Summary:

I am currently on my second year of a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in Astrophysics program at the University of Oxford. My DPhil project is about the development of the integral field spectrograph HARMONI, for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) and it includes as scientific context the study of the surface composition of the Galilean Moons with integral field spectroscopy observations.

The development of HARMONI is focused on the mounting process of the spectrograph camera lenses and testing its performance under cryogenic temperatures, the implementation of an articulated metrology set-up to test the quality of the spectrograph gratings and on investigating efficient reflective broadband coatings.

Prior Research:

MSc at Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (2015 - 2017) in Puebla, Mexico - Camera lenses and collimator mirror optics manufacturing for the WEAVE spectrograph
Bachelor of Engineering (Mechatronics) at Universidad La Salle (2010 – 2014) in Mexico City, Mexico