
ALPAO

ALPAO is a company which manufactures a range of adaptive optics products for use in research and industry, including deformable mirrors with large strokes, wavefront sensors, and adaptive optics loops. These products are designed for astronomy, vision science, microscopy, wireless optical communications, and laser applications.
History.
ALPAO developed from groundwork at the Université Joseph Fourier (Grenoble) and Floralis. In 2006 and 2008 ALPAO received awards for innovative technology from the French Ministry of Research. Other ALPAO partners include the Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, OSEO, ANR, Région Rhône-Alpes, Grenoble Alpes Incubation, the Reseau Entreprendre and Business France. 
Applications.
ALPAO’s deformable mirrors can be used in the following disciplines for image enhancement:
Vision science.
Diagnosing illnesses of the eye may require high resolution images of the retina. Images taken using conventional instruments may be too poor in quality due to aberrations introduced by the eye itself. Adaptive optics offers a technique for restoring the image quality. In addition, adaptive optics may be used to create a vision simulator.
Astronomy.
Turbulence introduced by the atmosphere degrades images taken using telescopes. Using adaptive optics recovers much of the information that is lost. As a result, it is possible to increase the number of scientific observations.
Microscopy.
AO systems can correct for the sample aberration but also for the microscope and spherical aberration introduced by index mismatch. If not corrected, these aberrations reduce the resolution of the microscope.
Defense and Space.
Turbulence introduced by the atmosphere degrades performances of numerous applications like: satellite imaging, advanced imaging systems, Free Space Optical communication and laser weapon. Deformable mirror technology enables an optimal compensation of this effect.
Laser and Physics.
Laser beam shaping is showing a high increase of performance in numerous applications in physics like: