In charge of the optical components for the Subaru telescope
The large optical infrared telescope Subaru (photograph: National Astronomical Observatory)
The earth observation satellite Midori (photograph: JAXA)
Mr. Kudo has worked exclusively on instruments in which a high degree of precision is required, such as large astronomical telescopes, optical systems installed on artificial satellites, and IC steppers and scanners.
The large optical infrared telescope Subaru is located at the peak of Mauna Kea on the Island of Hawaii. Mr. Kudo was in charge of polishing the large 900-mm-diameter lens for the High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS) unit and the high-precision spherical lens for the Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph (FOCAS) unit installed on the Subaru telescope. He has also been in charge of the polishing of numerous space-related optical components, such as the lightweight primary mirror on the Advanced Visible Near-Infrared Radiometer (AVNIR) installed on the earth observation satellite Midori, Schmidt correction plates, and high-precision prisms.
For a time he also worked on the production of moving mirrors for IC steppers and scanners. The moving mirror is a vital component for determining the position of the wafer stage, and so Mr. Kudo's skills were also utilized for IC steppers and scanners, which are considered the most precise mechanisms ever developed.