Aperture Synthesis

Professor S. K. Saha is with the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore, India. He has spent one year (1988-89) at the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur (formerly C.E.R.G.A) in Caussols, France. During this year he conducted research on the high angular features of stars, using the long baseline topical interferometer with a pair of 1.5 meter telescopes. He has a strong interest in Experimental Physics and has developed various equipment in the area. He is the author of the book Diffraction-Limited Imaging with Large and Moderate Telescopes (World Scientific, 2007). Another book, 21st Century Astrophysics (Anita Publications, 2005, with V. K. Rastogi (Ed.)) was brought out to commemorate Einstein's "Year of Miracles," which contains a set of articles written by reputed scientists working at the various laboratories across the Globe. Saha has edited a special issue of Asian J. Physics on 'Astrophysics" in 2004.

Preface.- Principal Symbols.- List of Acronyms.- Introduction to Wave Optics.- Principles of Interference.- Applications of Interferometry.- Single-dish Diffraction-limited Imaging.- Basic Tools and Technical Challenges.- Discrete-element Interferometers.- Image Recovery.- Astronomy with Diluted Aperture Interferometry.- Appendix A: Transfer Function of an Optical System.- Appendix B: Fourier Optics.- Appendix C: Spatial Frequency Response.- Appendix D: Zernike Representation of Atmospheric Turbulence.- Appendix E: Celestial Coordinate System.- References.- Index.