The 8th Laboratory ( Adaptive Optics Lab)
The lab has a staff of 40, including 1 CAE academician, 3 doctoral supervisors, 1 member of CAS Hundred Talents, 7 research professors, 12 associate research professors and 12 research assistants, engineers and Experimentalists. There are 7 persons holding doctor’s degree. The average age of the staff is 36 and 84% of the personnel is the young aged from 40 years downwards. The lab now has one master program of optical engineering, one doctor program of optical engineering and one post-doctoral program of optical engineering.
The lab consists of 4 research teams.
a). Research team for laser atmospheric effects correction. The team mainly studies the atmospheric effects on laser transmission and develops adaptive optical system to correct effects of atmospheric turbulence and thermal blooming.
b). Research team for active optics and wavefront correctors. This team mainly studies active optics, and develops new wavefront correctors and precision positioning technology. This team also develops key technologies and processes to miniaturize adaptive optical system and apply the adaptive optical system to civil fields as well as other scientific and research fields.
c). Research team for beam control of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) system. To improve the quality of laser beam of ICF system, the research team is developing a beam control system to control and correct the focusing spot.
d). Research team for high-resolution adaptive optical telescope. To meet with the requirements of astronomical observation(such as planet), the research team develops adaptive systems to improve image resolution.
The lab became one of the CAS-piloted trail implementations of Knowledge Innovation Project (KIP) in 1999. It is only the lab carrying on practical system development and new technology research on adaptive optics in China.
Insisting on the guideline of "opening and cooperation", the lab carries on various academic exchanges, especially in the civil fields such as astronomical and ophthalmological adaptive optics. 52 papers and 11 papers were published in journals and at international conferences, respectively. The lab keeps frequently academic exchanges and good cooperations with the Anhui Institute of optics and Precision Mechanics of CAS, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of CAS, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of CAS, Beijing Astronomical Observatory of CAS, Yunnan Astronomical Observatory of CAS and China Academy of Engineering Physics. Every year the lab selects 2~3 scientific researchers to participate international conferences hold by SPIE, ICO and so on, and sends some researchers to attend in advanced abroad studies to learn the newest developments in the field of adaptive optics. The lab often invites abroad and domestic famous experts to give lectures and carry cooperative researches. With above advantageous cooperation, the lab has won important innovative achievements and breakthroughs.
Scientific Research Achievements
The lab has succeed in developing many adaptive optical systems, such as 19-element, 21-element, 37-element and 61-element adaptive optical systems, and applying to some key projects (such as ICF, atmospheric laser transmission correction, retinal imaging for human-eye examination and so on) and other important scientific engineering projects. These achievements indicate that China has totally mastered the adaptive optical technology.
Under the support of national 863 Program, the lab optimizes its research fields and determines its advantageous fields. In recent years, the lab has made many advanced research achievements. Since 1993, the lab has won 13 high-grade awards, including 3 second-grade and 3 third-grade awards of the National Prize for Progress in Science and Technology, 1 special-grade and 5 first-grade awards of CAS Prize for Progress in Science and Technology, and 1 first-grade award of ministry-level prize for progress in Science and technology. The lab applied for 9 patents and 2 of them were authorized from 1996 to 1999. The lab has unique advantages in the research fields of adaptive optics, active optics and nano-level microactuation positioning technology and is a leading domestic lab and an international important lab of adaptive optics. The lab has complete adaptive optics technologies covering components to total system and applies these technologies to astronomical observation, ICF, atmospheric transmission correction and so on. The lab is named as "the largest research community in adaptive optics in the world" by the abroad colleagues.
The lab consists of 4 research teams.
a). Research team for laser atmospheric effects correction. The team mainly studies the atmospheric effects on laser transmission and develops adaptive optical system to correct effects of atmospheric turbulence and thermal blooming.
b). Research team for active optics and wavefront correctors. This team mainly studies active optics, and develops new wavefront correctors and precision positioning technology. This team also develops key technologies and processes to miniaturize adaptive optical system and apply the adaptive optical system to civil fields as well as other scientific and research fields.
c). Research team for beam control of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) system. To improve the quality of laser beam of ICF system, the research team is developing a beam control system to control and correct the focusing spot.
d). Research team for high-resolution adaptive optical telescope to meet with the requirements of astronomical observation.
