Optical fibers at LSW

Julian Stürmer (Heidelberg)

Optical fibers did not only revolutionize our telecommunication, but
also had a big impact on astronomical instrumentation.
In this talk the basics of fiber optics are presented and its relevance
for astronomy is discussed.
The various applications in astronomical instrumentation,
high-resolution spectrographs, multi-object and integral field
spectroscopy, etc. are presented. The talk will focus on the benefits
and remaining problems of fiber optics for current and future
high-resolution spectrographs. As an outlook it is shown how the
combination of fiber optics or more general, photonics and astronomy can
further boost the capabilities of astronomical instruments.