Adaptive optics is the most revolutionary breakthrough in astronomy
since Galileo pointed his telescope skyward four hundred years ago.
It is critical technology that will enable astronomers to answer
challenging questions about the universe.
Over the last four decades, a formidable and persistent team of
scientists from the Air Force Research Laboratory, MIT/Lincoln
Laboratory, and private contractors led the way in achieving
groundbreaking advances in adaptive optics. They demonstrated laser
guide star techniques and made adaptive optics practical on large
telescopes. The military aggressively pursued the development of
adaptive optics for two reasons--imaging for space situational
awareness and laser weapons. A significant part of this research
occurred at the Starfire Optical Range in New Mexico and the Maui
optical site in Hawaii. The program remained classified during the
1970s and 1980s, but the government declassified it in the early
1990s, enabling significant technology transfer to the astronomy
community.
Robert Duffner has compiled a unique history of the invention of
laser guide stars and other contributions to adaptive optics made
by the Department of Defense. He had access to a large collection
of primary source material housed in the offices of government
scientists and in the Research Laboratory's archives at Kirtland
Air Force Base, Albuquerque. Duffner also interviewed seventy-one
prominent scientists who played key roles advancing adaptive optics
research.
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