The next step is to master the complex optics and engineering techniques required for a green laser pointer system to function on a real telescope. In the mid-1990s, a prototype demonstrated by a colleague at the UCO Rick Observatory finally proved that the system can achieve the best resolution of the observatory’s 3-meter telescope, at least on long-wave light. However, even this does not convince astronomers to adopt the technology.
So Max realized that the technology needed a “community of practice” where users could learn how to build laser-guided stars. The idea turned into an adaptive optics center funded by a $ 5 million, 10-year project from the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Santa Cruz campus, which was eventually led by Max, was established in 1999.
By 2010, when the funding had ended and the center had to be closed, it had grown from a few people in the beginning to nearly a hundred people later. Super green laser pointer “eye” sees the whole atmosphere.