Research interests
My research is focused on the design, testing, and development of optical hardware for space instruments. Specifically, I am working with a team of researchers to build optical ground support equipment for the European Space Agency's Ariel Space Telescope. When launched, this highly specialised instrument will survey a collection of stellar targets, and study the exo-plantets orbiting around them using the method of transit spectroscopy. To do this, the instrument must be rigorously tested and calibrated here on Earth. We aim to achieve this by illuminating the instrument with highly stable, well characterised light, while the satellite is operational within a thermal vacuum chamber at cryogenic temperatures (mimicking its environment in space). As an optical design specialist, I am responsible for designing many aspects of the innovative apparatus that will enable these tests, allowing us to verify that the satellite's requirements are met.