Spherical VPH Gratings for Enhanced Spectrograph Design

用于增强光谱仪设计的球面 VPH 光栅

• 批准号: 1440129
• 负责人: James Clemens
• 金额: $ 13.21万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2016-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1440129&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Spherical; VPH; Gratings; Enhanced; Spectrograph

Diffraction gratings are a fundamental component at the heart of many astronomical instruments that measure the distribution of light at different wavelengths. Such measurements carry tremendous diagnostic information about the chemical composition of astronomical objects, and the dynamics of their motion. A more efficient kind of grating, called the Volume Phase Holographic (VPH) grating, has recently been under development, and offers great promise for practical applications. Particularly compact and light-efficient optical designs are made possible if VPH gratings can be made on spherical surfaces. The proposal for which this award was made is a pathfinding attempt to perfect the techniques for fabricating VPH gratings on spherical surfaces.Current spectrographs typically accomplish spectral dispersion on planar wavefronts, and this drives the optical design to large and hence expensive instruments. The VPH technology promises high-quality diffraction gratings on concave or convex spherical surfaces, enabling alternative and more compact spectrograph designs such as those utilizing the well-known Offner relay. The designs enabled by VPH gratings can have fewer as well as smaller components, and in some cases less exotic material while delivering higher efficiency. With this award, a pathfinder concept spectrograph using commercial off-the-shelf optical components will be built with resolving power R~1000 over the wavelength range 380-790 nm, feeding a 2k detector. This pilot project will pave the way for more advanced spectrograph designs in the future, exploiting the power of VPH gratings.This project has substantial broader impacts in that it could enable dramatically reduced size and cost while maintaining high performance, for a wide variety of astronomical instrumentation. Students will be involved in most aspects of the work.Funding for this project is being provided by NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences through its Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation program.

衍射光栅是许多天文仪器的核心部件，用于测量不同波长的光分布。 这种测量携带了大量关于天体化学成分及其运动动力学的诊断信息。 一种更有效的光栅，称为体积相位全息（VPH）光栅，最近正在开发中，并提供了很大的希望，为实际应用。 如果可以在球面上制作VPH光栅，则可以实现特别紧凑和光效率高的光学设计。 该奖项的颁发是为了完善在球面上制作VPH光栅的技术而进行的一次探索性尝试。目前的光谱仪通常在平面波前上实现光谱色散，这促使光学设计转向大型和昂贵的仪器。 VPH技术承诺在凹球面或凸球面上制作高质量的衍射光栅，从而实现替代和更紧凑的摄谱仪设计，例如使用著名的Offner中继器的摄谱仪设计。 通过VPH光栅实现的设计可以具有更少和更小的组件，并且在某些情况下具有更少的奇异材料，同时提供更高的效率。 有了这个奖项，一个探路者概念摄谱仪使用商业现成的光学元件将建立与分辨率R~1000在波长范围380-790 nm，饲料2k检测器。 该试点项目将为未来更先进的光谱仪设计铺平道路，利用VPH光栅的功率。该项目具有广泛的影响，因为它可以大大降低尺寸和成本，同时保持高性能，适用于各种天文仪器。 学生将参与这项工作的大部分方面。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。