Extreme-Adaptive-Optics observations of protostellar jets

The ejection of matter in form of protostellar jets/outflows plays a fundamental role in the star-formation process as it is tightly connected to the mass accretion mechanism and is expected to directly affect the evolution of the circumstellar disk in which planet formation occurs. Since the typical angular scales of the jet-formation region are of the order of tens of mas for the closest star-forming regions, such region has so far remained unknown from an observational point of view. New instruments equipped with extreme Adaptive Optics systems offer now the opportunity to observe the jets as close as possible to the driving sources so as to gather crucial pieces of information on the ejection process and its connection to the disk.
In this context, I will present the first VLT/SPHERE observations jets from a young object. Using the ZIMPOL instrument we have taken optical images of the young binary Z CMa, which is composed by two eruptive variables: a Herbig star showing recurrent EXor-like outbursts and a FUor source, both driving a jet. The morphology of the two jets, which we trace down to ~70 mas, looks fairly different: the Herbig star appears to emit a poorly collimated compact flow, while the FU Ori drives a highly collimated precessing jet.
For the FUor jet, we discuss the mechanism responsible for the observed jet precession and we provide the first direct measurement of the mass ejection rate and of the ejection efficiency in a FUor source, which we can compare to the same quantities measured in other classes of young stellar objects.
Finally, I will give an overview of what we can expect for protostellar jet observations with other upcoming extreme-AO instruments, such as SHARK at LBT.