  The major cornerstone of future ground-based astronomy is imaging and
spectroscopy at the diffraction limit using adaptive optics. To exploit the
potential of current AO systems, we have begun a survey around bright stars to
study intermediate redshift galaxies at high resolution. Using ALFA to reach
the diffraction limit of the 3.5-m telescope at Calar Alto allows us to study
the structure of distant galaxies in the near-infrared at scales of 100-150 pc
for z=0.05 and at scales 1.0-1.5 kpc at z=1. In this contribution we present
the initial results of this project, which hint at the exciting prospects
possible with the resolution and sensitivity available using an AO camera on
the 8-m class VLT.
