MELT is a test bench designed to prepare for the operation of the upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). It features a series of wavefront sensors that will play a key role in aligning the ELT's six mirrors and ensuring the 798 hexagonal segments of the primary mirror (M1) are shaped into a smooth, continuous surface.

The focus of this internship will be the application of a Zernike phase contrast sensor (ZEUS) to co-phase a segmented telescope. The primary goal of the project will be to test the sensor on the ELT lab testbench MELT, improve the data analysis and support the findings with simulations. As a secondary goal, the data analysis techniques should be applied to the future ELT ZEUS sensor ZIRCAM, which is currently under construction.

Qualifications:

• A solid understanding of optics and optical systems
• Proficiency in Python programming for data analysis and simulation
• Strong interest in data analysis, coding, and instrumentation
• Experience with wavefront sensors or similar technologies is a plus but not required