Matthew Kenworthy's Research
I am predominantly interested in astronomical instrumentation, as indicated by the wide variety of SPIE papers I've been involved with. My thesis work was based on building optical fiber spectrographs in the visible and near infra-red and in developing the new data reduction and analysis techniques to understand and interpret the data.
Current Research (as of Spring 2007)
Apodizing Phase Plate - Almost 200 planets have been indirectly detected orbiting around stars in our part of the Galaxy. Direct imaging of planets around the closest stars is possible, but we are hampered by the light from the primary star itself. This plate helps suppress the light from the star whilst allowing the light from the planet shine through.
Focal Plane Wavefront Sensing Techniques - What's the difference between an optical aberration and a planet? Focal plane wavefront sensing can determine if that faint blob of light is a glint in the telescope optics or light from a real and separate faint source.
Previous Research
In rough chronological order I have worked on:
Deformable electrostatically controlled mirror suitable for use in large spaced base telescopes and taken images of the moon with a one inch diameter primary telescope
A very high spectral resolution spectrograph fed by a near single mode optical fiber (the ACES spectrograph)
Investigated the properties of float glass suitable for making low dispersion prisms to enhance planet detection techniques
Helped determine the mass of a nearby binary brown dwarf system:
- Some old web pages from 1997 (ten years and counting...) about my graduate project, SPIRAL Phase A
Last updated: Wednesday January 02, 2008