Staff profile
Dr Alastair Basden, PhD, MSci, MA, BA
Senior Research Associate in the Department of Physics
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 42229
Room number: 123
(email at a.g.basden@durham.ac.uk)
About my research
I am a researcher in most things to do with astronomical adaptive optics (AO) including real-time control systems and simulation, as well as design and bench work.
I have developed the Durham AO real-time controller which has been used successfully by multiple institutes worldwide.
I perform extensive end-to-end simulations of AO systems for the next generation Extremely Large Telescopes
I am a member of the CANARY team, developing technologies for next generation AO systems with on-sky testing
I am involved with the DRAGON AO bench in Durham studying wide-field AO.
I have extensive knowledge of camera electronics and calibration techniques.
Selected Publications
Journal papers: academic
- Basden, A. G. & Myers, R.M. (2012). The Durham adaptive optics real-time controller: capability and Extremely Large Telescope suitability. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS) 424(2): 1483-1494
- Basden, Alastair, Myers, Richard & Butterley, Timothy (2010). Considerations for EAGLE from Monte Carlo adaptive optics simulation. Applied Optics 49(31): G1-G8.
- Basden, Alastair, Geng, Deli, Myers, Richard & Younger, Eddy (2010). Durham adaptive optics real-time controller. Applied Optics 49(32): 6354-6363.
- Basden, Alastair. (2007). Adaptive optics simulation performance improvements using reconfigurable logic. Applied Optics 46: 900-906.
- Basden, Alastair., Butterley, Timothy., Myers, Richard. & Wilson, Richard. (2007). Durham extremely large telescope adaptive optics simulation platform. Applied Optics 46(7): 1089-1098.
- Basden, Alastair, Geng, Deli, Guzman, Dani, Morris, Tim, Myers, Richard & Saunter, Chris (2007). Shack-Hartmann sensor improvement using optical binning. Applied Optics 46(24): 6136.
- Basden, AG, Assemat, F, Butterley, T, Geng, D, Saunter, CD & Wilson RW (2005). Acceleration of adaptive optics simulations using programmable logic. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomy Society 364: 1413-1418.
- Basden, A.G. & Buscher, D.F. (2005). Improvements for group delay fringe tracking. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 357: 656-668.
- Basden, A.G. & Haniff, C.A. (2004). Low light level CCDs and visibility parameter estimation. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 347: 1187-1197.
- Basden, A.G., Haniff, C.A.ackay & C.D. (2003). Photon counting strategies with low-light-level CCDs. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 345: 985-991.