Research Bio

Michael Bottom is an experimental astrophysicist.  His research is located at the intersection of astronomy, optics, and data analysis, working towards the goal of taking pictures of planets around other stars. Exoplanet imaging is a technically challenging field, and as such, a large fraction of his time is building and working with new instrumentation. Particular interests include wavefront sensing and control for ground based telescopes, data analysis and post-processing algorithms for exoplanet imaging, and developing the next generations of detectors for ground and space-based instruments. His group makes regular use of the largest telescopes in the world for observing planets and disks.

He is a professor in the Department of Astronomy. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, he was faculty of the IfA, and an optical engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab working on developing the WFIRST Coronagraph camera, formation flying sensors for the Starshade mission, and wavefront sensing for large ground-based telescopes.  He also led a small team in developing new post-processing algorithms for exoplanet imaging. 

Research Expertise and Interest

exoplanet imaging, adaptive optics, experimental astrophysics