The Adaptive Optics group and the Optical Turbulence group are part of the High Angular Resolution Research pole in the Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri. A  dynamic context for a professional experience !

19/10/2026: Expression of interest for a PhD thesis 

We are looking for young and motivated graduated students to carry out a PhD thesis on the topic:

OPTICAL TURBULENCE FORECAST APPLIED TO THE FREE-SPACE OPTICAL COMMUNICATION (FSOC)

Motivations and Objectives

The research goal is to develop methods for optical turbulence forecasting in the context of free-space optical communication (FSOC). Accurate predictions (and thus advance knowledge of optical turbulence states) are crucial for operating link networks connecting satellites with Optical Ground Stations (OGSs). This will be essential for applications such as ESA's HydRON project, whose main goal is to achieve Terabit-per-second communication speeds, revolutionizing the field.

Methods and Techniques

The work will employ atmospheric mesoscale models adapted to reconstruct and forecast optical turbulence—which deteriorates wavefronts propagating through the atmosphere in the optical and near-infrared ranges—along with machine learning and neural network approaches. The candidate will also acquire expertise in techniques for optical turbulence measurements, as they are a key element for optical turbulence forecasts. The thesis is conducted in collaboration with Thales Alenia Space Italia (TAS-Italia), which co-funds the project.

The selected candidate will join the Optical Turbulence (OT) group at the Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (INAF-OAA). The Adaptive Optics (AO) group and the Optical Turbulence (OT) group are strictly interlaced and are part of the High Angular Resolution Research pole in the Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (Florence), Italy. It is a very dynamic context in which young researchers can find a rich cultural substrate to grow up from a professional point of view participating to international projects of top-class level. Such an experience can be a useful training and a premise for a brilliant career. 

The OT group has a robust expertise built all along several decades in optical turbulence characterization and measurement and on optical turbulence forecast mainly applied to the ground-based astronomy. We have carried out projects for the most important ground-based telescopes in the word such as the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and we are leaders of operational forecast systems for LBT (ALTA Center project) and for VLT (FATE project). Our colleagues of the AO group are leaders of many of the most complex AO systems of present and new generation ground-based facilities in the word with a robust expertise in the field. The two groups are part of ADONI, the Adaptive Optics National Laboratory in INAF, a national structure joining all the competence in the field.

The research work will be carried out in collaboration with TAS-Italia, a leading company in the free-space optical communcation at international level. The candidate will have therefore the opportunity to visit the company and apply the research to leading-edge projects in the FSOC field.

Contact: Dr. Elena Masciadri

E-mail: elena.masciadri at inaf.it