DARKNESS: Dark-Speckle Near-IR Energy-resolved Superconducting Spectrophotometer

研究其他恒星周围行星的一种令人兴奋的方法是利用自适应光学领域的最新技术进步来直接对系外行星进行成像，同时来自附近恒星的空间集中但非常明亮的光被日冕仪抑制。 近年来杰出的技术和理论进步使这种方法能够实现极高的对比度，从而探测到非常微弱的恒星伴星。 这种寻找恒星伴星的方法在某种程度上是对成熟的径向速度技术的补充，并且可能能够发现不同类别的系外行星并确定它们的不同信息。 多种最先进技术的结合将使这里建造的仪器能够比竞争仪器具有更好的对比度，并使其成为第一个能够在可见波长下进行高对比度日冕摄影的仪器。日冕摄影功能充分利用了帕洛马天文台运行的现有且经过充分验证的 PALM-3000 (P3K) 极端自适应光学系统。 该探测器技术非常新颖，利用超导微波动感电感探测器（MKID）的最新发展，可以对所看到的光学/近红外光的固有波长（无需外部色散光学器件）进行光谱解析。 这些探测器还提供微秒时间分辨率，全部具有零读取噪声和零暗电流光子计数，从而实现了一种称为暗散斑的日冕摄影模式，该模式起源于 90 年代中期，似乎有望抑制伴星探测所需的焦平面散斑。 整个项目结合了多种令人兴奋的新颖技术，以解决现代天文学中最紧迫的科学问题之一。该项目因其科学性质而对公众具有广泛的吸引力，并将培训本科生和研究生以及博士后研究员。该项目的资金由美国国家科学基金会天文科学部通过其先进技术和仪器计划提供。

An exciting approach to studying planets around other stars exploits recent technical advances in adaptive optics to directly image the exoplanets while the spatially concentrated but very bright light from the nearby star is suppressed by a coronagraph. Outstanding technical and theoretical progress in recent years has allowed this approach to achieve extremely high contrast, and thus detect very faint companions to stars. This approach to hunting for stellar companions is in some ways complementary to the well-established radial-velocity technique, and may be able to unearth different classes of exoplanets and determine different things about them. The combination of multiple state-of-the-art technologies will make the instrument being built here capable of substantially better contrast than competing instruments, and make it the first capable of high contrast coronagraphy at visible wavelengths.Coronagraphic capabilities are leveraged from the existing and well-proven PALM-3000 (P3K) extreme adaptive optics system operating at the Palomar Observatory. The detector technology is very novel, making use of recent developments in superconducting Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) that can spectrally resolve the wavelengths intrinsically (with no external dispersing optics) of the optical/near-infrared light that they see. These detectors also provide microsecond time resolution, all with zero read noise and zero dark current photon counting that enable a mode of coronagraphy known as Dark Speckle, which originated in the mid-90?s and appears promising for suppressing focal-plane speckles as needed for companion detection. The overall project combines multiple exciting and novel technologies to attack one of the most pressing scientific problems in modern astronomy.This project will have broad appeal to the public by the nature of the science, and will train undergraduate and graduate students as well as a post-doctoral fellow.Funding for this project is being provided by NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences through its Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation program.