Welcome

We invite you to attend the workshop on "Dispersing Elements for Astronomy: New trends and possibilities", to be held in Milan, Italy from October 9 to October 11 2017.

The aim of the workshop is to bring together researchers and engineers involved in the design, realization and construction of spectroscopic instrumentation, and companies and institutes that produce dispersing elements and associated optical components.

The forum will provide us with the opportunity to discuss the scientific needs for future instruments, and to address the technological challenges that will enable us to move forward in developing new types of dispersing elements in the coming years.

Indeed, the number of possibilities in the field of diffraction gratings and dispersing elements is increasing thanks to the development of new technologies (from holography to lithography and micromachining). Some of these technologies are not specifically developed for astronomy, but have exciting potential applications in this field. In order to make the best design choices for new instrumentation, it is necessary to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each technology.

Although many of the new developments will naturally focus on instrumentation for the new generation of Extremely Large Telescopes, the requirements of smaller facilities, which still have an important role in astronomical research, will also be discussed at the workshop.