CILAS To Design and Prototype Adaptive Mirror For European Extremely Large Telescope

Orléans, France – January 17, 2008: The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has recently entrusted CILAS with a design study and prototyping of the adaptive mirror for the 42 m European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). The E-ELT, the next ESO large programme, will have a primary mirror

diameter of 42 metres and is planned to be operational in 2018. It will be the world's largest optical telescope.

CILAS, acclaimed for its high-resolution imagery and adaptive optics, won an international call for tender issued by ESO in the frame of the E-ELT Phase B.

The adaptive mirror, designed to correct in real time the turbulence of the terrestrial atmosphere, will have two major innovative characteristics:

• a diameter of 2.5 metres;
• between 5,000 and 10,000 piezoelectric actuators with large correction stroke.

"Designing this mirror is a veritable technical challenge. It will play a key role in the performance level of the future telescope, enabling the ELT to reach a resolution 100 times better than the largest telescopes currently in use. This contract is also

evidence of the trust that ESO has placed in us, trust that we are very proud to have gained and will do anything to maintain in the future, particularly with regard to this programme." said Jacques Battistella, CILAS CEO.

“We are pleased to pursue our past fruitful industrial partnership with CILAS for the design and prototyping of one of the most challenging component of the European ELT. Adaptive optics is now considered as a crucial element of any future large telescopes. For that reason ESO has proposed to design an Adaptive telescope which includes, from the start, a large deformable mirror in its optical train. It is essential for the E-ELT that industrial partners like CILAS bring their expertise to design and prototype such a complex and innovative component” said Norbert Hubin, Head of the Adaptive Optics Department at ESO.

Thanks to longstanding and fruitful cooperation over the last twenty years, CILAS has already delivered fourteen adaptive mirrors to ESO, the most recent being the Very Large Telescope SPHERE Deformable Mirror with 1,377 actuators. The expertise and technologies developed by CILAS in this field have enabled the company to grow and develop new-generation of adaptive mirrors, with increasing actuator numbers and density and to meet the always more demanding requirements of its customers.

CILAS adaptive mirrors optimised for high-resolution imaging and laser beams correction, are currently being used in adaptive optics systems at the Gemini and Subaru telescopes in the United States and Japan.

Previous News:

CILAS Delivers Record 1,377 Actuator Adaptive Mirror To ESO, Dec 2007.
ESO Council Gives Green Light to Detailed Study of the European Extremely Large Telescope, Dec 2006.
CILAS Wins Two Major Contracts For Deformable Mirrors In the United States, Dec 2004.

About CILAS:

For over 40 years, CILAS has developed, manufactured and marketed a wide range of lasers, optronics products and systems for defence, civilian, military security, large-scale scientific laser programmes, and scientific-industrial instrumentation. With a turnover of 30 million euros, CILAS employs 200 people on five sites in France.

About ESO:

ESO is the intergovernmental European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere. On behalf of its thirteen member states, ESO operates a suite of the world's most advanced ground-based astronomical telescopes located at the La Silla and Paranal Observatories in the Atacama desert in Chile. The ESO Headquarters are situated in Garching near Munich, Germany.

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