Dr. Rocco Coppejans works on projects to develop the next generation of X-ray, visible and infrared space telescopes. The core of the work is to replace traditional (thick and solid) mirrors with membrane mirrors, which would significantly increase the diameters of the mirrors in space telescopes. Larger diameter mirrors are extremely desirable as the mirror diameter is proportional to the sensitivity, time and spatial resolution of the telescope. In his work Dr. Coppejans is developing technology to actively control the shape of a membrane mirror using a layer of magnetic smart material (which expands or contracts under the influence of an external magnetic field) deposited on the mirror.
Dr. Rocco Coppejans was a CIERA Postdoc 2017 – 2018.
He was COFI Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University until 2021.
