I’m primarily interested in learning about planet forming regions using the high angular resolution technique called non-redundant masking.

This is what the Gemini Planet Imager’s 10-hole mask looks like. No hole-to-hole vector is repeated.

The mask turns a single telescope into an interferometer, allowing it to resolving faint structure (e.g. planet, disk, or stellar companion) around a bright host star. I have worked to characterize the mask performance on the Gemini Planet Imager and prepare for the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRISS instrument, which contains a 7-hole mask.

I also work developing wavefront sensing methods for both ground and space telescopes. For example my recent study uses NIRISS’s mask along with its full pupil to reconstruct the wavefront without any additional pupil diversity. This does not require any moving mirrors and could simplify phasing and aligning of segmented space telescopes.

Looking ahead, some of my latest interests include developing imaging for both masked and unmasked data on space telescopes to study proto-planetary environments, exoplanets around low mass stars, AGN fueling structures, and Io’s active volcanism with JWST.

Publications:

A list of my publications on ADS