Scalable photonic-based nulling interferometry with the dispersed multi-baseline GLINT instrument

Abstract

Characterisation of exoplanets is key to understanding their formation, composition and potential for life. Nulling interferometry, combined with extreme adaptive optics, is among the most promising techniques to advance this goal. We present an integrated-optic nuller whose design is directly scalable to future science-ready interferometric nullers: the Guided-Light Interferometric Nulling Technology, deployed at the Subaru Telescope. It combines four beams and delivers spatial and spectral information. We demonstrate the capability of the instrument, achieving a null depth better than 10−3 with a precision of 10−4 for all baselines, in laboratory conditions with simulated seeing applied. On sky, the instrument delivered angular diameter measurements of stars that were 2.5 times smaller than the diffraction limit of the telescope. These successes pave the way for future design enhancements: scaling to more baselines, improved photonic component and handling low-order atmospheric aberration within the instrument, all of which will contribute to enhance sensitivity and precision.

Laser 3D Printing of Inorganic Free-Form Micro-Optics

“…We anticipate it as a strategy for extending the additive manufacturing of inorganic 3D structures, offering high complexity integrated devices for micro-sensing [40], nano-fluidic [41] and astro-photonic [42] applications. 5.…”

Very high resolution spectro-interferometry with wavefront sensing capabilities on Subaru/SCExAO using photonics

“…The red arrows point at two null outputs, where the light is cancelled. 18 The expected null depth, from literature, is in orange. The measured null depth and fit providing the diameter θUD estimation is in blue.…”

“…The data reduction pipeline is extensively explained and described in a previous article 18 hence we will just present one of the main GLINT result on Subaru here (more characterization and on-sky results can be found in the previous article 18 ). GLINT was used to measure the diameter of δ Virgo.…”

Laser-Assisted Etching of EagleXG Glass by Irradiation at Low Pulse-Repetition Rate

“…On the other hand, waveguides with high index contrast and low propagation losses have been demonstrated in commercial borosilicate glasses, such as Eagle2000 and Ea-gleXG (Corning Inc., Corning, NY, USA) [14][15][16] or AF45 (Schott AG, Mainz, Germany) [17]. These have enabled the demonstration of elaborated 3D optical circuits with applications encompassing quantum information experiments [18,19], astrophotonics [20], and telecommunications [21]. The application of the FLICE microstructuring technique to these glasses would disclose a great potential for the fabrication of optofluidic devices, where complex interferometers [18,22] could be integrated monolithically with a microfluidic network.…”