Fiber-laser Astro-comb as a Robust Wavelength Calibrator for Astrophysical Spectrographs

光纤激光天文梳作为天体物理光谱仪的稳健波长校准器

• 批准号: 1310981
• 负责人: Ronald Walsworth
• 金额: $ 47.21万
• 依托单位: Harvard University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1310981&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Fiber; laser; Astro; comb; Robust

The first planets around other stars were discovered only within the last few decades, and since then scientists have been surprised by how common such exoplanets are, and by the surprising nature of some of their characteristics. The search for more exoplanets and the drive to gather better statistics to fully understand them (and so the planetary system in which we live) is a vigorous area of modern research. A particularly urgent scientific direction is establishing that an exoplanet is earthlike, which requires measurement of both the radius and the mass of the planet. Radius can be measured by satellite observations when the planet passes in front of the star; mass is measured by extremely precise monitoring of the radial velocity of the central star, since its motions are influenced by the gravitational tug of the planet in proportion to its mass.This project will develop frequency calibrators based on robust, field-compatible new laser technologies that should push radial velocity precision down to below 10 cm/s (for comparison, the recoil velocity of the Sun caused by the earth is about 9 cm/s). These systems are moving toward long-term, continuous operation by standard observatory personnel, without specialized laser experts on-site or any need to make frequent adjustments.The laser-comb development project will train several graduate and undergraduate students in the physics of ultrafast optics and astronomical instrument building and observation. Many of the techniques developed here will find fruitful application in other scientific disciplines, such as molecular spectroscopy.Funding for this project is being provided by NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences through its Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation program.

第一批围绕其他恒星的行星是在过去几十年中才被发现的，从那时起，科学家们就对这些系外行星的常见程度以及它们的一些特征的惊人性质感到惊讶。 寻找更多的系外行星和收集更好的统计数据以充分了解它们（以及我们所生活的行星系统）是现代研究的一个充满活力的领域。 一个特别紧迫的科学方向是确定系外行星是类地行星，这需要测量行星的半径和质量。 当行星经过星星前方时，可以通过卫星观测来测量半径;质量是通过极其精确地监测中心星星的径向速度来测量的，因为它的运动受到行星引力的影响，与其质量成比例。与现场兼容的新激光技术，应将径向速度精度降低到10厘米/秒以下（相比之下，地球引起的太阳反冲速度约为9厘米/秒）。 这些系统正朝着由标准天文台人员长期连续操作的方向发展，而不需要专业的激光专家在现场进行任何频繁的调整。激光梳开发项目将培训几名研究生和本科生，学习超快光学物理学和天文仪器的建造和观测。许多在这里开发的技术将在其他科学学科中找到富有成效的应用，如分子光谱学。该项目的资金由NSF的天文科学部通过其先进技术和仪器计划提供。