Brief Summary of Technical Skills

• Optical Design using ZEMAX: ray tracing, optical design procedure and optimization, specification of optics, image analysis and tolerancing.
• Mechanical Design using AutoCad/Pro-E: design of vacuum enclosure for optics, design of mounts for optical elements, stress analysis (due to gravity, differential thermal expansion etc), thermal analysis.
• Integration, alignment and assembly of opto-mechanical instrument.
• Hardware and Data-acquisition system: Controllers for CCDs and infrared arrays. FPGA based Master and waveform generation card, ADC and signal processing card, clock driver and bias card using DACs, telemetry.
• PCB design using Orcad Capture and Layout: Design of high speed Data Acquisition Board (DAB)  for optical and infrared detectors using USB 2.0.
• Testing of CCDs and infrared detectors: readnoise, gain, dark current and flat field estimation. Readout schemes for detectors. Single sampling, correlated double sampling, ramp sampling, Fowler sampling.
• Use of optical measurement instruments, wavefront sensor etc.
• Cryogenics and Vacuum Techniques: estimation and reduction of heat load on the instrument, instrument and detector cooling, radiation shield, use of O-rings, vacuum feedthrough etc for vacuum sealing.
• Image Processing using IRAF: flat-fielding, illumination correction, bad pixel removal, sky-subtraction (using cl script), image alignment and co-addition, aperture photometry, astrometry.
• Software programming in C, Fortran77, Fortran90, IDL. Use of numerical recipes and statistical methods like χ²– minimization, interpolation, three-dimensional integration etc. Simulation of astronomical images.
• Formulation of specifications: for optical, mechanical and electronic components. Interaction with vendors. Choosing best possible technological solution within budgetary constraints.

Computational and Software Skills

Languages

Hindi (Native), English (very fluent)

Other Skills

• Good communication skills, presented thesis and post-doctoral work at various national and international conferences.
• Good documentation skills. Experience in writing proposals/reports/ and other documents to be reviewed by external referees.
• Very strong mathematical and analytical skills. Specialization in Real Mathematics during MSc programme.
• Ability to work in a team with multi- disciplinary skills.

Education

• PhD, 2006 : The Design and Fabrication of Near Infrared PICNIC Imager, IUCAA (Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics), Pune.
• Integrated MSc Physics, 1997 : IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), Kanpur
• ISC 1991 : Hartmann College, Bareilly (U.P)
• ICSE 1989 : Hartmann College, Bareilly (U.P)

Publications

1. Near Infrared PICNIC Imager(NIPI) : Deep, A.  et al., 2002, BASI, 30, 791
2. Near Infrared PICNIC Imager(NIPI) - A Progress Report : Deep, A. et al., 2003,    BASI, 31, 465
3. ASSIST : Development of a test infrastructure for the VLT AO Facility : Stuik, R., Arsenault, R., Deep, A.,  Delabre, B., Hallibert, P., Jolissaint, J., Hubin,  N.,  Kendrew, S.,Madec, P.Y.,  Paufique, J. and Stroebele, S., 2007, Proc. Of SPIE, 6691.
4. A. Deep & R. Stuik, “ASSIST MAIV plan for Preliminary Design Review”, Garching 2007 : Technical Report
5. A. Deep, “ASSIST Star Simulator Module for Preliminary Design Review”, Garching 2007: Technical Report
6. R. Stuik, R. Arsenault, R. Conzelmann, A. Deep,  B. Delabre,  P. Hallibert,  L. Jolissaint,  N. Hubin, S. Kendrew, P.-Y. Madec, F. Molster,  J. Paufique,  E. Pauwels, Evert; S. Stroebele,  E. Wiegers, “ASSIST: the test setup for the VLT AO facility,” Proc. SPIE 7015-160 (2008).
7. A. Deep, G. Fiorentino,  L. Jolissaint,  E. Tolstoy, “Use of AO PSF models for the Study of Resolved Stellar Populations”,  AO4ELT Conference,  Paris, 2009.
8. A. Deep & R. Stuik, “ASSIST MAIV plan for Final Design Review”, Garching 2009 : Technical Report
9. A. Deep, “ASSIST Star Simulator Module for Final Design Review”, Garching 2009: Technical Report
10. A. Deep, G. Fiorentino,  R. Falomo and E. Tolstoy , “MICADO Photometric  Studies”.  Technical Report for E-ELT Phase A studies for MICADO instrument.

Employment

June 2007- : Research Associate at Leiden Observatory, Netherlands.Currently, I am working on project ASSIST (Adaptive Secondary Setup and Instrument STimulator) at Leiden Observatory. This system is being designed to allow for the testing of Adaptive Optics facility of Very Large Telescope. I am responsible for the development of MAIV (manufacturing, alignment, integration and verification) plan for this project. As the name suggests, the following items have been covered as a part of this procedure:

• Procurement of various items for ASSIST.
• Plan to assemble and integrate ASSIST bench for testing in Leiden; which handling and testing tools are required.
• Development of a strategy for the alignment of various optics and opto-mechanics of ASSIST.
• Identifying tools and equipments required during alignment and integration, such as alignment telescope and measurement arm.
• Identify the tests which are to be performed on the subsystems, and on the assembly.
• Assembly of ASSIST at ESO, which also includes assembly of DSM (Deformable Secondary Mirror) on top of ASSIST.

In this role, I take part in preparing Call for tender documents for the optical modules and preparing reports for Preliminary Design Review and Final Design Review.

In the same project, I am in-charge for the Star Simulator module which will simulate NGS (Natural Guide Stars) and LGS (Laser Guide Stars) for ASSIST. The main tasks for this module are:

• Converting technical specifications of ASSIST into size, brightness and wavelength of required sources for ASSSIST.
• Talk with different vendors to find out correct LED, fibers etc for NGS sources.
• Experiments conducted in Leiden Optical Lab to check whether theoretical calculations match with experimental results.
• Interaction with Mechanical Workshop to build a prototype for NGS and LGS.

I also take part in testing phase screens which simulate turbulence of the atmosphere. These phase screens are being tested at European Southern Observatory in Garching using a Shack Hartmann wavefront sensor.

I am also involved in project MICADO (MCAO Imaging CAmera for Deep Observations). MICADO is the imaging camera for the multi-conjugate adaptive optics system on the 42-m European Extremely Large Telescope. We create simulations assuming most of the parameters such as background, pixel scale, read-noise, throughput etc what might be expected from the E-ELT instrument MICADO. Then we compute the accuracy with which photometry can be done on these images using current software packages.

• 2006 – June 2007: Research scholar, IUCAA, Pune, India. A high speed Data Acquisition Board (DAB) for optical and infrared detectors using USB 2.0 was designed using Orcad software. DAB has five fiber-optic links with each link connected to a separate detector/Controller. Simultaneous data transfer is possible through all fiber links. It has 1GB flash-memory and the fibre link data can be acquired either to the flash memory or to the USB port. A minimum data rate per fiber link of 1Mbps is sustainable (if USB is shared by multiple fiber links).  In the unshared or read-to-flash mode, maximum data rate per fiber link of at least 10 Mbps is possible.
• 2000 - 2006: Research Fellow of CSIR, IUCAA, Pune, India. During this period I worked on my PhD thesis. My work mainly involved the design and fabrication of a near-infrared imager to be used with IUCAA telescope. I worked on all the aspects of astronomical instrumentation – optical design, mechanical design, data acquisition, detector testing, vacuum and cryogenics, data reduction, programming in C etc.
• 1998 - 2000: Lecturer in Bareilly College, Bareilly.
• 1997 - 1998: Research assistant at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.