Frontiers of Interferometry

Abstract

Arrays of many optical telescopes can now be built on the ground and in space for generating high-resolution optical images. Following a system of two 1.52m telescopes with 70m baseline at CERGA, an Optical Very Large Array of 27 telescopes is planned. In space, arrays of floating telescopes stabilized by solar sails may be developed in the next decade. In space also, the feasibility of huge “gaseous” mirrors with atoms trapped in standing waves of laser light, can be explored.