Development of an efficient photonic device for the reformatting of celestial light

D. G. MacLachlan, R. J. Harris, I. Gris-Sánchez, D. Choudhury, T. J. Morris, E. Gendron, A. G. Basden, I. J. Spaleniak, A. Arriola, T. A. Birks, J. R. Allington-Smith, R. R. Thomson

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference proceeding contributionpeer-review

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Abstract

The advent of 30 m class Extremely Large Telescopes will require spectrographs of unprecedented spectral resolution in order to meet ambitious science goals, such as detecting Earth-like exoplanets via the radial velocity technique. The consequent increase in the size of the spectrograph makes it challenging to ensure their optimal environmental stabilization and precise spectral calibration. The multimode optical fibers used to transport light from the telescope focal plane to the separately housed environmentally stabilized spectrograph introduces modal noise. This phenomena manifests as variations in the light pattern at the output of the fiber as the input coupling and/or fiber position changes which degrades the spectrograph line profile, reducing the instrument precision. The photonic lantern is a guided wave transition that efficiently couples a multimode point spread function into an array of single modes. If arranged in a linear array at the input of the spectrograph these single modes can in principle provide a diffraction-limited mode noise free spectra in the dispersion axis. In this paper we describe the fabrication and throughput performance of the hybrid reformatter. This device combines the proven low-loss performance of a multicore fiber-based photonic lantern with an ultrafast laser inscribed three-dimensional waveguide interconnect that performs the reformatting function to a diffraction-limited pseudo-slit. The device provided an in laboratory throughput of 65 ± 2% at 1550 ± 20 nm and an on-sky throughput of 53 ± 4% at 1530 ± 80 nm using the CANARY adaptive optics system at the William Herschel Telescope.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAdvances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation II
EditorsRamón Navarro, James H. Burge
Place of PublicationBellingham, WA
PublisherSPIE
Pages1-9
Number of pages9
ISBN (Electronic)9781510602045
ISBN (Print)9781510602038
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes
EventAdvances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation II - Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Duration: 26 Jun 20161 Jul 2016

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE
PublisherSPIE
Volume9912
ISSN (Print)0277-786X
ISSN (Electronic)1996-756X

Other

OtherAdvances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation II
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityEdinburgh
Period26/06/161/07/16

Bibliographical note

Copyright 2016 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.

Keywords

  • Adaptive optics
  • Photonic lantern
  • Spectroscopy
  • Ultrafast laser inscription
  • Waveguides

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