Microphysical cloud modeling for substellar atmospheres
Clouds in the atmospheres of exoplanets and brown dwarfs can have a large influence on the spectra we observe, and theoretical models of the distribution, density, and sizes of cloud particles can be difficult. The dynamics of clouds encompass many different kinds of processes, and simulations can involve several dimensions and highly variable timescales. Consequently, full microphysical models, i.e. those treating the population of cloud particles directly, can be too computationally expensive to couple into the circulation models needed to get a full picture of the physics in a planet or brown dwarf atmosphere. With Prof. Jonathan Fortney, I’m working on a set of microphysical cloud models to capture the essential physics while bridging the computational complexity gap, written in the Julia programming language.
Focal-plane wavefront sensing with a photonic lantern
Extreme adaptive optics techniques are essential to reach the resolution and contrast necessary to directly image Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars using large ground-based telescopes. In particular, focal-plane wavefront sensing allows us to correct non-common path aberrations that would otherwise distort the science image while being inaccessible to the adaptive optics system. In collaboration with Prof. Rebecca Jensen-Clem, I’m currently running experiments using the SEAL testbed in the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics and the 3m Shane telescope at Lick Observatory to assess the photonic lantern’s performance as a wavefront sensor and science camera, and to find improvements in the design and operation of photonic lanterns so they can be used at large telescopes.
Laboratory demonstration of optimal identification and control of tip-tilt systems
I started this project in 2019, as a rising third-year undergraduate. Initially it was a pure simulation project, but I came back to it in 2021 to run laboratory tests of my simulations, as part of the UCSC Lamat REU. I published this work as an SPIE paper, and presented it at the 2022 Spirit of Lyot and SPIE conferences.
I wrote a real-time control framework for the UC Santa Cruz SEAL adaptive optics testbed, implemented a linear-quadratic-Gaussian controller with a turbulence/vibration-based physics model, and tested it in simulation and on the bench.