Mechanical engineering professor author on paper about high-performance telescopes

November 3, 2022 - by Kim Delker

Heng Zuo, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at The University of New Mexico, is one of the authors of a paper that recently was featured in Optica, Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide.

“Femtosecond laser micromachining for stress-based figure correction of thin mirrors” describes a new way to make telescope mirrors using femtosecond lasers, which are used to fabricate precision ultrathin mirrors for space telescopes that capture star formation and other high-energy space events.

Zuo performed the research when she was at MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. She joined the School of Engineering as a faculty member in the fall 2022. Her areas of research are in fabrication and correction of astronomical optics, as well as space optics development and applications.