NAIR: novel astronomical instrumentation through photonic reformatting

Harris, Robert J.; Sharma, T. K.; Davenport, John; Hottinger, Philipp; Anagnos, Theodoros; Nayak, Abani Shankar; Quirrenbach, A.; Labadie, Lucas; Madhav, Kalaga; Roth, Martin

doi:10.1117/12.2562493

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…The extracted complex visibilities are shown in Fig. 3 in [32]. We then used a broadband source in combination with different filters to identify the best bandwidth for the on-sky operation.…”

Section: Preparation For the On-sky Campaign A Laboratory Characteriz...mentioning

confidence: 99%

First stellar photons for an integrated optics discrete beam combiner at the William Herschel Telescope

et al. 2021

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We present the first on-sky results of a four-telescope integrated optics discrete beam combiner (DBC) tested at the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope. The device consists of a four-input pupil remapper followed by a DBC and a 23-output reformatter. The whole device was written monolithically in a single alumino-borosilicate substrate using ultrafast laser inscription. The device was operated at astronomical H-band (1.6 µm), and a deformable mirror along with a microlens array was used to inject stellar photons into the device. We report the measured visibility amplitudes and closure phases obtained on Vega and Altair that are retrieved using the calibrated transfer matrix of the device. While the coherence function can be reconstructed, the on-sky results show significant dispersion from the expected values. Based on the analysis of comparable simulations, we find that such dispersion is largely caused by the limited signal-to-noise ratio of our observations. This constitutes a first step toward an improved validation of the DBC as a possible beam combination scheme for long-baseline interferometry.

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Section: Preparation For the On-sky Campaign A Laboratory Characteriz...mentioning

confidence: 99%

First stellar photons for an integrated optics discrete beam combiner at the William Herschel Telescope

et al. 2021

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“…Compared to pairwise IO combiners [472], DBCs have a very simple design and employ only straight, relatively short SM waveguides, thus avoiding bending losses and have low propagation losses. Therefore, the main losses are derived from the coupling of starlight in the device, which could feature a pupil remapper [480] or a coherent reformatter [504] that has inherent bending or transition losses. Retaining high throughput or sensitivity is important for any interferometer, especially for facilities that combine many apertures for high-fidelity imaging, including proposed next-generation facilities such as the 'Planet Formation Imager' (PFI [505,506]) or the Magdalena Ridge Optical Interferometer (MROI [507]).…”

Section: Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

2023 Astrophotonics Roadmap: pathways to realizing multi-functional integrated astrophotonic instruments

Jovanovic,

Gatkine,

Anugu

et al. 2023

J. Phys. Photonics

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Photonic technologies offer numerous functionalities that can be used to realize astrophotonic instruments. The most spectacular example to date is the ESO Gravity instrument at the Very Large Telescope in Chile that combines the light-gathering power of four 8-m telescopes through a complex photonic interferometer. Fully integrated astrophotonic devices offer critical advantages for instrument development, including extreme miniaturization when operating at the diffraction-limit, plus integration, superior thermal and mechanical stabilization owing to the small footprint, and high replicability offering significant cost savings. Numerous astrophotonic technologies have been developed to address shortcomings of conventional instruments to date, including the development of photonic lanterns to convert from multimode inputs to single mode outputs, complex aperiodic fiber Bragg gratings to filter OH emission from the atmosphere, beam combiners enabling long baseline interferometry with for example, ESO Gravity, and laser frequency combs for high precision spectral calibration of spectrometers. Despite these successes, the facility implementation of photonic solutions in astronomical instrumentation is currently limited because of 1) low throughputs from coupling to fibers, coupling fibers to chips, propagation and bend losses, device losses, etc., 2) difficulties with scaling to large channel count devices needed for large bandwidths and high resolutions, and 3) efficient integration of photonics with detectors. In this roadmap, we identify 23 key areas that need further development. We outline the challenges and advances needed across those areas covering design tools, simulation capabilities, fabrication processes, the need for entirely new components, integration and hybridization and the characterization of devices. To realize these advances the astrophotonics community will have to work cooperatively with industrial partners who have more advanced manufacturing capabilities. With the advances described herein, multi-functional integrated instruments will be realized leading to novel observing capabilities for both ground and space based platforms, enabling new scientific studies and discoveries.

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“…While this work was conducted in the H-band, further work with collaborators in the UK, Germany, and in the U.S.A. have led to on-sky tests with ULI-written combiners in the K-band, using the CHARA interferometer on Mt. Wilson Observatory [49][50][51].…”

Section: Discrete Beam Combiners (Dbc) For Large Astronomical Interfe...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Astrophotonics: photonic integrated circuits for astronomical instrumentation

Roth

Madhav

Stoll

et al. 2023

Integrated Optics: Devices, Materials, and Technologies XXVII

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Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC) are best known for their important role in the telecommunication sector, e.g. high speed communication devices in data centers. However, PIC also hold the promise for innovation in sectors like life science, medicine, sensing, automotive etc. The past two decades have seen efforts of utilizing PIC to enhance the performance of instrumentation for astronomical telescopes, perhaps the most spectacular example being the integrated optics beam combiner for the interferometer GRAVITY at the ESO Very Large Telescope. This instrument has enabled observations of the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way at unprecedented angular resolution, eventually leading to the Nobel Price for Physics in 2020. Several groups worldwide are actively engaged in the emerging field of astrophotonics research, amongst them the innoFSPEC Center in Potsdam, Germany. We present results for a number of applications developed at innoFSPEC, notably PIC for integrated photonic spectrographs on the basis of arrayed waveguide gratings and the PAWS demonstrator (Potsdam Arrayed Waveguide Spectrograph), PIC-based ring resonators in astronomical frequency combs for precision wavelength calibration, discrete beam combiners (DBC) for large astronomical interferometers, as well as aperiodic fiber Bragg gratings for complex astronomical filters and their possible derivatives in PIC.

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NAIR: novel astronomical instrumentation through photonic reformatting

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

First stellar photons for an integrated optics discrete beam combiner at the William Herschel Telescope

First stellar photons for an integrated optics discrete beam combiner at the William Herschel Telescope

2023 Astrophotonics Roadmap: pathways to realizing multi-functional integrated astrophotonic instruments

Astrophotonics: photonic integrated circuits for astronomical instrumentation

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