Ultrafast laser inscription of an integrated photonic lantern

Thomson, Robert R.; Birks, T. A.; Leon-Saval, Sergio G.; Kar, A. K.; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss

doi:10.1364/oe.19.005698

Cited by 215 publications

(167 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(28 reference statements)

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“…The idea behind the PIMMS concept is to use a guided-wave transition, known as a 'photonic lantern' (Leon-Saval et al 2005;Bland-Hawthorn et al 2011;Thomson et al 2011;Spaleniak et al 2013;Birks et al 2015), to efficiently couple the multimode telescope PSF to an array of single modes. These single modes can then be rearranged (or reformatted) into a linear array to form a pseudo-slit that acts as a diffraction-limited single-mode input (along the dispersion axis) to a spectrograph.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient photonic reformatting of celestial light for diffraction-limited spectroscopy

MacLachlan

Harris

Gris-Sánchez

et al. 2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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The spectral resolution of a dispersive astronomical spectrograph is limited by the trade-off between throughput and the width of the entrance slit. Photonic guided-wave transitions have been proposed as a route to bypass this trade-off, by enabling the efficient reformatting of incoherent seeing-limited light collected by the telescope into a linear array of single modes: a pseudo-slit which is highly multimode in one axis but diffraction-limited in the dispersion axis of the spectrograph. It is anticipated that the size of a single-object spectrograph fed with light in this manner would be essentially independent of the telescope aperture size. A further anticipated benefit is that such spectrographs would be free of 'modal noise', a phenomenon that occurs in high-resolution multimode fibre-fed spectrographs due to the coherent nature of the telescope point-spread-function (PSF). We address these aspects by integrating a multicore fibre photonic lantern with an ultrafast laser inscribed three-dimensional waveguide interconnect to spatially reformat the modes within the PSF into a diffraction-limited pseudo-slit. Using the CANARY adaptive optics (AO) demonstrator on the William Herschel Telescope, and 1530 ± 80 nm stellar light, the device is found to exhibit a transmission of 47 -53 % depending upon the mode of AO correction applied. We also show the advantage of using AO to couple light into such a device by sampling only the core of the CANARY PSF. This result underscores the possibility that a fully-optimised guided-wave device can be used with AO to provide efficient spectroscopy at high spectral resolution.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient photonic reformatting of celestial light for diffraction-limited spectroscopy

MacLachlan

Harris

Gris-Sánchez

et al. 2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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“…So far in published results, photonic lantern core geometries have consisted of hexagonal lattices, rounded array or square lattices with the number of cores approximately equal to the number of final waveguide modes as required [12,13,[17][18][19]. However, it has been theoretically demonstrated that the best starting point for a low loss lantern design is an uncoupled core geometry that best approximates or samples the geometry of the modes of the final MM fiber [14,20,21].…”

Section: Optimum Waveguide Geometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The final aim of this physical transition is to adiabatically form a multimode waveguide in which the single-mode waveguides either vanish or form a composite waveguide formed by strong coupling between them. Photonic lanterns to date have been manufactured and demonstrated by three different techniques; two using optical fibers [12,13] and the third by using ultrafast laser writing techniques [18,23].…”

Section: Different Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photonic lanterns

2013

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Multimode optical fibers have been primarily (and almost solely) used as "light pipes" in short distance telecommunications and in remote and astronomical spectroscopy. The modal properties of the multimode waveguides are rarely exploited and mostly discussed in the context of guiding light. Until recently, most photonic applications in the applied sciences have arisen from developments in telecommunications. However, the photonic lantern is one of several devices that arose to solve problems in astrophotonics and space photonics. Interestingly, these devices are now being explored for use in telecommunications and are likely to find commercial use in the next few years, particularly in the development of compact spectrographs. Photonic lanterns allow for a low-loss transformation of a multimode waveguide into a discrete number of single-mode waveguides and vice versa, thus enabling the use of single-mode photonic technologies in multimode systems. In this review, we will discuss the theory and function of the photonic lantern, along with several different variants of the technology. We will also discuss some of its applications in more detail. Furthermore, we foreshadow future applications of this technology to the field of nanophotonics.

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“…However, the telescope image of a point source (the Airy disc) contains many propagation modes, and some means must be used to split these modes so that each single mode can be fed into its own fibre OH filter and spectrometer. A device that carries out such a transformation is the 'photonic lantern' [24]. A precision waveguide fabrication technique using ultra-fast laser inscription is being developed [23] and holds the prospect of being able to manufacture complex three-dimensional waveguide systems in one piece of glass [25].…”

Section: (E) Possible Future Ultra-compact Instruments: Astrophotonicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Precision engineering for astronomy: historical origins and the future revolution in ground-based astronomy

Cunningham

Russell

2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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Since the dawn of civilization, the human race has pushed technology to the limit to study the heavens in ever-increasing detail. As astronomical instruments have evolved from those built by Tycho Brahe in the sixteenth century, through Galileo and Newton in the seventeenth, to the present day, astronomers have made ever more precise measurements. To do this, they have pushed the art and science of precision engineering to extremes. Some of the critical steps are described in the evolution of precision engineering from the first telescopes to the modern generation telescopes and ultra-sensitive instruments that need a combination of precision manufacturing, metrology and accurate positioning systems. In the future, precision-engineered technologies such as those emerging from the photonics industries may enable future progress in enhancing the capabilities of instruments, while potentially reducing the size and cost. In the modern era, there has been a revolution in astronomy leading to ever-increasing light-gathering capability. Today, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is at the forefront of this revolution, building observatories on the ground that are set to transform our view of the universe. At an elevation of 5000 m in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) is nearing completion. The ALMA is the most powerful radio observatory ever and is being built by a global partnership from Europe, North America and East Asia. In the optical/infrared part of the spectrum, the latest project for ESO is even more ambitious: the European Extremely Large Telescope, a giant 40 m class telescope that will also be located in Chile and which will give the most detailed view of the universe so far.

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Ultrafast laser inscription of an integrated photonic lantern

Cited by 215 publications

References 21 publications

Efficient photonic reformatting of celestial light for diffraction-limited spectroscopy

Efficient photonic reformatting of celestial light for diffraction-limited spectroscopy

Photonic lanterns

Precision engineering for astronomy: historical origins and the future revolution in ground-based astronomy

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