Turn-Key Green Astro-Comb.

交钥匙绿色 Astro-Comb。

• 批准号: 1405606
• 负责人: Ronald Walsworth
• 金额: $ 67.44万
• 依托单位: Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1405606&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Turn; Key; Green; Astro; Comb.

The search for exoplanets, or planets orbiting stars other than our sun, is moving forward at a rapid pace. Progress in this field is largely driven by our technological ability to build instruments that can measure tiny radial velocity changes of a star's light as its planet or planets tug it towards us or away from us, creating a tiny "Doppler" shift in the stellar spectrum revealing orbiting companions. This technology in turn is largely limited by our ability to calibrate our planet-hunting instruments. Calibration identifies spurious errors that would otherwise mimic radial motion in a stationary star. The proposal in this case aims to build an easy-to-operate calibration system that will generate a comb of light with peak outputs spaced in wavelength, with fine enough comb scale to significantly advance the current state of the art in planet hunting instrumentation.The calibrator being built will be automated, and is intended for use on the HARPS-N spectrograph located at the TNG telescope in the Canary Islands. It will be a "turn-key", easy-to-operate astro-comb, producing outputs in the middle of the visible spectrum (~500-620 nm), and will enable precision radial velocity measurements with sensitivity 10 cm/s over arbitrarily long periods of time. The calibrator will be usable by telescope operators and observers without the need for laser scientists to be on site. The science thus enabled includes determination of the mass of Earth-like exoplanets, direct measurements of the acceleration of the young universe, and investigation of the constancy of fundamental constants over cosmological time scales.This project will train students and postdoctoral researchers in scientific practices at the interface of ultrafast optical physics and astronomical instrument building and observation. The techniques to be developed will contribute to a wide array of interdisciplinary and commercial applications in fields such as few-cycle optical pulses, molecular spectroscopy, and bioimaging.Funding for this project is being provided by NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences through its Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation program.

寻找系外行星，或围绕太阳以外的恒星运行的行星，正在快速前进。 这一领域的进展主要是由我们的技术能力驱动的，我们能够建造仪器，测量星星的光线在其行星或行星将其拉向我们或远离我们时的微小径向速度变化，在恒星光谱中产生微小的“多普勒”位移，揭示轨道同伴。 这项技术反过来又在很大程度上受到我们校准行星狩猎仪器的能力的限制。 校准识别虚假的错误，否则将模仿径向运动在一个静止的星星。 在这种情况下，该建议旨在建立一个易于操作的校准系统，将产生一个梳状光与峰值输出间隔的波长，具有足够精细的梳状尺度，以显着推进行星狩猎仪器的当前最先进的水平。正在建设的校准器将是自动化的，并打算在位于加那利群岛的TNG望远镜的HARPS-N摄谱仪上使用。 这将是一个“交钥匙”，易于操作的天文梳，产生可见光谱中间（~500-620纳米）的输出，并将能够在任意长的时间内以10厘米/秒的灵敏度进行精确的径向速度测量。 望远镜操作员和观察员将可以使用校准器，而不需要激光科学家在现场。 由此开展的科学研究包括确定类地系外行星的质量、直接测量年轻宇宙的加速度以及研究宇宙学时间尺度上基本常数的恒定性，该项目将培训学生和博士后研究人员在超快光学物理学和天文仪器制造与观测的科学实践方面的能力。 该技术将被开发，将有助于广泛的跨学科和商业应用领域，如几个周期的光脉冲，分子光谱学和生物成像。该项目的资金是由美国国家科学基金会的天文科学部通过其先进技术和仪器计划提供。