Telephone: +44(0)191 3344822
Fax: +44(0)191 3344844
Website: http://www.cfai.dur.ac.uk

Primary Contact: D J Robertson
Position:
Email: d.j.robertson@durham.ac.uk

The Centre for Advanced Instrumentation at the NETPark Research Institute collaborates with observatories world-wide in the construction, commissioning and exploitation of innovative hi-tech instruments for optical and infrared astronomy. Key research areas are advanced spectroscopy, adaptive optics, applied optics, low light level detectors and precision engineering/metrology.

The CfAI is part of Durham University's Physics Department which has been ranked as the UK's No 1 by The Times newspaper university tables for the last four years. The department undertakes research ranging from elementary particle physics and cosmology to applied areas receiving substantial support from industry.

CfAI's facilities at NETPark include a precision optics laboratory; a precision metrology laboratory; a large assembly, integration and test laboratory; a large scale flecture facility; an environmental chamber; and cryogenic test chambers.

Its location at NETPark enables the commercial potential to be developed, exploited and diversified, for example, into industrial and medical applications.