The number of indirectly detected planetary systems around nearby stars has grown tremendously since their initial discovery five years ago. But the direct observation of light reflected from these systems remains a formidable task, because of the high contrast ratios between them and their parent stars, and because of the tiny angular separations. Theoretically, these difficulties can be overcome by using a dual-aperture stellar interferometer in which the starlight is cancelled, or 'nulled' by broadband destructive interference, leaving the planet's light visible. Although the basic requirement of equal and oppositely directed electric fields is easy to state, an experimental demonstration of deep broadband nulling has been lacking, owing to difficulties engendered by the needs for extreme symmetry and stability, and low dispersion in the optical system. Here we report the deep (10(-4)) and stable nulling of broadband (18% bandwidth) thermal light. These results validate the physical principles underlying future planet-searching interferometers, and our laboratory instrument will serve as a prototype for the nulling instrument to be implemented on the Keck interferometer in 2001.
Nulling interferometry, a proposed technique for dimming a star relative to its surroundings by destructively interfering the light collected by two individual telescopes [Bracewell, Nature 274, 780-781 (1978); Shao and Colavita, Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 30, 457-498 (1992)], has the potential to permit the direct detection of nearby extrasolar planets. However, because of the extremely high degree of symmetry required for useful levels of starlight nulling, the technique remains in its infancy. We present results of laboratory experiments with a rotational shearing interferometer that are aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of deep nulling at the levels needed for direct planet detection. Our first results include the successful nulling of red laser light to a part in 10(5) and the stabilization of the null leakage to a part in 10(4).
We present the first science results from the Keck Interferometer, a direct-detection infrared interferometer utilizing the two 10 m Keck telescopes. The instrument and system components are briefly described. We then present observations of the T Tauri object DG Tau, which is resolved by the interferometer. The resolved component has a radius of 0.12-0.24 AU, depending on the assumed stellar and extended component fluxes and the model geometry used. Possible origins and implications of the resolved emission are discussed.
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The Keck Interferometer (KI) combined the two 10 m W. M. Keck Observatory telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, as a long-baseline near-and mid-infrared interferometer. Funded by NASA, it operated from 2001 until 2012. KI used adaptive optics on the two Keck telescopes to correct the individual wavefronts, as well as active fringe tracking in all modes for path-length control, including the implementation of cophasing to provide long coherent integration times. KI implemented high sensitivity fringe-visibility measurements at H (1:6 μm), K (2:2 μm), and L (3:8 μm) bands, and nulling measurements at N band (10 μm), which were used to address a broad range of science topics. Supporting these capabilities was an extensive interferometer infrastructure and unique instrumentation, including some additional functionality added as part of the NSF-funded ASTRA program. This paper provides an overview of the instrument architecture and some of the key design and implementation decisions, as well as a description of all of the key elements and their configuration at the end of the project. The objective is to provide a view of KI as an integrated system, and to provide adequate technical detail to assess the implementation. Included is a discussion of the operational aspects of the system, as well as of the achieved system performance. Finally, details on V 2 calibration in the presence of detector nonlinearities as applied in the data pipeline are provided.
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