Christ Ftaclas and I along with a team of engineers and technicians here at the IfA designed and built the adaptive optics subsystem of the Gemini-South Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager (NICI).  That includes all the elements of an 85-element natural-guide-star curvature adaptive optics system including the deformable mirror, control electronics, and control software.

NICI was delivered and commissioned in 2007. We’re now nearing the completion of a 500-hour campaign (led by Mike Liu of the IfA) with NICI to search for large planets around other stars.

more info:

1. •  Gemini Observatory
   

2. •  Mauna Kea Infrared
   

3. •  NICI Performance Paper
   

4. •  NICI Campaign Paper