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EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY ENTRUSTS CILAS FOR THE DESIGN STUDY AND PROTOTYPING OF THE ADAPTIVE MIRROR FOR THE 42-METER EUROPEAN EXTREMELY LARGE TELESCOPE
Orleans, 17 January 2008. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has recently entrusted CILAS with a design study and prototyping of the adaptive mirror for the 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 largest installation of its kind.
 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 GEMINI and SUBARU Telescopes respectively in the United States and Japan.
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 (www.cilas.com).
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 Paranal Observatory in the Atacama desert in Chile. The ESO Headquarters are situated in Garching near Munich, Germany (www.eso.org).
Press contact : Véronique Trivero
+ 33 (0)2 38 64 40 14
+ 33 (0)6 70 57 00 09
trivero@cilas.com
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WORLD PREMIERE FOR CILAS ADAPTIVE MIRRORS
CILAS HAS DEVELOPED AN ADAPTIVE MIRROR
WITH 1,377 PIEZOELECTRIC ACTUATORS FOR THE ESO VLT TELESCOPE
Orleans, 06 décember 2007. CILAS has delivered to the European Southern Observatory (ESO) a deformable mirror with 1377 actuators to be used in SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch), an instrument for the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to be installed at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. CILAS, leader in the field of advanced adaptive optics components for high angular resolution, won an international call for tender in June 2005, for the development of this essential component. This development was funded by ESO and by the FP6 Optical Infrared Coordination Network for Astronomy (OPTICON) project of the European Commission.
SPHERE, a second generation instrument for the direct imaging and study of Extrasolar Planets, is one of the most powerful and challenging astronomical instrument being built for one of the 8-meter telescope.
The deformable mirror developed by CILAS will correct accurately in real time the wavefront of the stellar and planet images distorted by the atmospheric turbulence above the telescope. Thanks to the large number of actuators, the actuator bandwidth, the actuator stroke and the accurate control of the optical surface provided by this deformable mirror, SPHERE should be able to provide superb images with an outstanding contrast between the star and its companion planet. The characteristics of this deformable mirror outperform significantly existing components developed so far and with its 1377 piezoelectric actuators, has the largest number of actuators worldwide. The previous adaptive mirror delivered by CILAS for the ESO 1st generation adaptive instrument NACO at the VLT had 185 actuators and was operated at a frequency of 700Hz.
Thanks to longstanding and fruitful cooperation over the last twenty years, CILAS has already delivered fourteen adaptive mirrors to ESO. 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 deformable mirrors optimised for high-resolution imaging and laser beams correction, are currently being used in Adaptive Optics systems at GEMINI and SUBARU Telescopes respectively in the United States and Japan.
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.
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 Paranal Observatory in the Atacama desert in Chile. The ESO Headquarters are situated in Garching near Munich, Germany (www.eso.org).
Press contact : Véronique Trivero
+ 33 (0)2 38 64 40 14
+ 33 (0)6 70 57 00 09
trivero@cilas.com
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Cilas to build a compact jamming laser for the CESAM project
Cilas confirms its expertise in airborne lasers with perspectives for use as a self-protection system for military and civilian air transport.
ORLEANS, 13 september 2007 – The Délégation Générale pour l'Armement (DGA) has recently awarded Cilas a project for the completion of a compact laser source mock-up, building on the initial studies conducted for the CESAM project. Launched by the DGA in 2002, the CESAM project involves the development and production of a jamming laser to be used by military aircraft for self-protection purposes.
The first stage of the project was the validation of the design principles and feasibility of using a laser-jamming system to counteract the threat of auto-guiding infrared missiles (MANPADS or man-portable air-defence systems). This new step will lead to the development of a compact mock-up to be integrated into a future transport aircraft self-protection system. With this contract, Cilas now enters the production phase of the jamming laser, which will take place over the next two years and conclude in the delivery of a mock-up to CELAR (Centre Electronique de l’Armement). This second phase is essential for Cilas since the potential market for Directional Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) using infrared jamming represents several million euros.
This compact jamming laser, which could be integrated into a future self-protection system, will transmit beams in low and average infra-red spectral bands at a high rate, thus ensuring a better effectiveness of jamming. The main characteristics are:
- strong brightness associated with a top-quality beam;
- frequency-modulation capacities;
- full performances obtained quasi-instantaneously.
A DGA partner for over 15 years, Cilas has shown both its laser technology know-how and its capacity to militarise innovative technical laser solutions on many occasions. For example, CILAS provided laser range finders for the Tigre helicopter programme and the lasers for the airborne laser designator Pods.
For Cilas, this new contract is part of a more global project and is an excellent opportunity to glean rich experience, which will be a distinct advantage in securing future civil aviation contracts. This new work is a natural complement to its participation in the PALMA European project ("Protection of Airliners against Manpads Attacks") about pre-studies in the airliners safety field.
For over 40 years, CILAS has developed, manufactured and marketed a wide range of products and systems for defence and civilian and military security, large-scale scientific laser programmes, and scientific and industrial instrumentation. With a turnover of 30 million euros, CILAS employs 200 people on five sites in France.
Press contact : Véronique Trivero
+ 33 (0)2 38 64 40 14
+ 33 (0)6 70 57 00 09
trivero@cilas.com
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