Photonic Synthesis of Large Aperture Telescopes from Multi-Telescope Arrays

多望远镜阵列大口径望远镜的光子合成

• 批准号: 1446983
• 负责人: Stephen Eikenberry
• 金额: $ 11.29万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 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: 2014-08-15 至 2016-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1446983&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Photonic; Synthesis; Large; Aperture; Telescopes

The central technological theme of modern astrophysical instrumentation is the development of ever larger telescopes, using larger-diameter mirrors to gather more and more light. More light-gathering power translates directly to sensitivity in studies of astrophysical phenomena. The largest visible-light telescopes in operation today are ten meters in diameter, and thirty-meter designs are being actively pursued. The cost of modern telescopes, however, increases much more quickly than the size of their main mirrors, so that ambitious increases in aperture have become almost prohibitively expense. The proposal to which this award is made approaches the problem of increasing astronomical light-gathering power in a different and highly innovative way. A single large aperture is replaced by a number of smaller telescopes whose light is brought to a common point by optical fibers.The general scale of cost savings anticipated with the concept proposed under this award is roughly a factor of ten over filled-aperture telescopes, possibly more. The demonstration system will be a module of four small telescopes that, taken together, are equivalent in light-gathering power to a single 0.7 meter telescope. The system will be coupled to the bHROS spectrograph, in collaboration with the ICATE institute in Argentina. This demonstration will retire the risk for the primary technologicalissues for the photonic-synthesis array approach, bringing this transformational technology into consideration as a cost-effective alternative to traditional construction methods for large advances in light-gathering power.This project will involve and train students in many aspects of the work. It also has potentially large broader impacts in that it may enable improved practical performance of a range of astronomical instrumentation, all of which will benefit from increased light-gathering power.Funding for this project is being provided by NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences through its Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation program.

现代天体物理仪器的中心技术主题是使用更大的直径镜子来收集越来越多的光线的望远镜的发展。 更多的轻度收集能力直接转化为天体物理现象研究的敏感性。 当今运行中最大的可见光望远镜的直径为10米，正在积极追求30米的设计。 然而，现代望远镜的成本比其主镜的大小更快，因此，雄心勃勃的光圈增加几乎变得巨大的费用。 获得该奖项的提议解决了以不同且高度创新的方式增加天文学的光收集能力的问题。 单个大光圈被许多较小的望远镜取代，这些望远镜通过光纤将其带到一个共同点。通过该奖项提出的概念预期的一般节省成本的总体规模大约是填充望远镜的十倍，可能更多。 演示系统将是四个小型望远镜组成的模块，这些望远镜在轻度收集功率上相当于单个0.7米的望远镜。该系统将与阿根廷的ICATE Institute合作，将其与BHROS光谱仪耦合。 该演示将使光子合成阵列方法的主要技术降低风险，从而将这一转型技术视为一种具有成本效益的传统构造方法的替代方案，用于轻度收集能力的大型进步。此项目将涉及并培训许多方面的学生。 它还具有更大的广泛影响，因为它可能可以改善一系列天文学仪器的实际性能，所有这些仪器将受益于提高的轻度收集能力。