Professor Celine D'Orgeville

Masters degrees in Optics & Photonics, and in Optical Engineering
Director, Advanced Instrumentation Technology Centre & ANU Translational Fellow
ANU College of Science
T: +61 (0) 2 6125 6374

Areas of expertise

  • Astronomical Instrumentation 510102
  • Space Instrumentation 510906
  • Engineering Design 401001
  • Systems Engineering 401006
  • Innovation And Technology Management 150307
  • Organisational Planning And Management 150312
  • Classical And Physical Optics 020501
  • Lasers And Quantum Electronics 020502
  • Nonlinear Optics And Spectroscopy 020503
  • Photonics, Optoelectronics And Optical Communications 020504
  • Photonics And Electro Optical Engineering (Excl. Communications) 090606
  • Mesospheric, Ionospheric And Magnetospheric Physics 020107
  • Astrodynamics And Space Situational Awareness 510901
  • Engineering Education 401002
  • Work Integrated Learning (Incl. Internships) 390115

Research interests

  • Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics (LGS AO) for astronomy, satellite imaging, laser tracking of space objects, and ground-to-space laser communications
  • Sodium guidestar laser research and development
  • Mesospheric sodium layer physics and characterization
  • Program and project management
  • Systems engineering
  • Science communication
  • Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA) in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) fields

Biography

Professor Céline d’Orgeville is the Director of the ANU Advanced Instrumentation Technology Centre (AITC) where she leads a team of over 55 scientists and engineers developing innovative, bespoke, cutting-edge instrumentation for astronomy and space. She is a world leading expert in Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics (LGS AO) for astronomy and the Australian Principal Investigator for the ULTIMATE-Subaru Ground Layer AO and the Giant Magellan Telescope Laser Tomography AO projects. As an ANU Translational Fellow, she is working with government and industry to transfer her LGS AO research into the commercial world of space situational awareness and ground-to-space laser communications.

Before joining ANU in 2012, Céline worked at the internaational Gemini Observatory where she led the Gemini laser program, including the design, fabrication and commissioning of the Gemini North and South LGS facilities in Hawaii and Chile. Céline’s GeMS 5-LGS Facility for Multi-Conjugate AO has held the record for most sodium guide stars in a LGS asterism since its commissioning in 2011.

Prof. d’Orgeville is a Fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) and a Fellow of the Astronomical Society of Australia. She was the inaugural chair of the RSAA Access and Equity Committee created in 2013. Céline co-chaired the 2014 ASA Women in Astronomy (WiA) workshop with Nobel Laureate and former ANU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Brian Schmidt. She was an active member of the ASA WiA Chapter steering committee, which later became the Inclusion Diversity Equity in Astronomy (IDEA) Chapter in 2016. Céline is also a long-standing ANU Ally. She has been a strong voice and advocate for IDEA in all its forms through her contributions to the ANU Gender Institute (GI) management committee, the University Research Committee and the ANU Academic Board.

Céline received the 2020 ANU College of Science Award for Service in the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA) category, and is the 2021 winner of the SPIE Diversity Outreach Award. She is a proud alumna of the 2019 WATTLE (Women ATTaining LEadership) program and of the 2022 Women in Leadership Australia Advanced Training Program.

Researcher's projects

Céline's Laser Guide Star-related research projects at the ANU include but are not limited to:

 In 2014 Céline conducted a Gender Demographics Survey of the International Adaptive Optics Community, whose results are available here.

Publications

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Updated:  20 April 2024 / Responsible Officer:  Director (Research Services Division) / Page Contact:  Researchers