Miniaturization: The Next Wave in Astronomical Instrumentation

小型化：天文仪器的下一波浪潮

• 批准号: 1711377
• 负责人: Sylvain Veilleux
• 金额: $ 69.79万
• 依托单位: University of Maryland, College Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-08-15 至 2023-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1711377&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Miniaturization; Next; Wave; Astronomical; Instrumentation

A spectrograph is an astronomical instrument that divides starlight into colors and makes precise, quantitative measurements of them. It is essential for a broad range of astronomical observations; but it is complex, bulky, and expensive. This project uses photonics technology adapted from the telecommunications industry to develop a novel kind of astronomical spectrograph. Photonics technology offers the potential to reduce the size by orders of magnitude while also lowering cost. Veilleux and collaborators are developing such a miniaturized, photonic spectrograph for deployment on a telescope. This demonstration instrument has the potential to transform the traditional spectrograph, workhorse of any astronomical observatory, into a lithe 21st century discovery engine.These investigators borrow several innovations from the telecommunications industry to miniaturize a spectrograph. The essential one is a photonic lantern, which is a method of efficiently coupling light from a multi-mode fiber into a single mode fiber. Multi-mode fibers are the only type that can be used at an astronomical focal plane. However, coupling to single mode fibers enable using other photonics innovations: fiber Bragg gratings and complex waveguide Bragg gratings, which filter out specific wavelengths and suppress unwanted noise. Noise arises from water vapor / OH sky emission and is the major source of unwanted background in an astronomical IR spectrograph. The final innovation is an arrayed waveguide grating -- a lightwave circuit fabricated on silicon that forms the dispersive element. Each of these individual components has been developed and tested by the investigators using their institutional access to fabrication facilities. This project will complete the instrument and deploy it at the 4.3 m Discovery Channel Telescope. The science goals identified for the instrument included follow-up investigations of gamma-ray burst afterglows. This field has seen tremendous advance over the past two decades and will be relevant for years to come.

摄谱仪是一种天文仪器，它将星光分成各种颜色，并对它们进行精确的定量测量。 它对于广泛的天文观测是必不可少的;但它复杂、笨重、昂贵。 该项目利用电信业的光子学技术开发一种新型的天文光谱仪。 光子学技术提供了将尺寸减小几个数量级的潜力，同时也降低了成本。 Veilleux和合作者正在开发这样一种小型化的光子光谱仪，用于部署在望远镜上。 这台演示仪器有可能将传统的摄谱仪，任何天文观测台的主力，变成一个轻盈的21世纪世纪发现引擎。这些研究人员借鉴电信行业的几项创新来实现摄谱仪的小型化。 最基本的是光子灯笼，这是一种将多模光纤中的光有效耦合到单模光纤中的方法。 多模光纤是唯一可以在天文焦平面上使用的类型。 然而，耦合到单模光纤可以使用其他光子学创新：光纤布拉格光栅和复杂的波导布拉格光栅，它们可以过滤掉特定的波长并抑制不需要的噪声。 噪声来自水汽/ OH天空发射，是天文红外光谱仪中不需要的背景的主要来源。 最后一项创新是阵列波导光栅--一种在硅上制造的光波电路，形成色散元件。 这些单独的组件中的每一个都是由调查人员利用他们对制造设施的机构访问进行开发和测试的。 该项目将完成该仪器，并将其部署在4.3米的探索频道望远镜上。 为该仪器确定的科学目标包括对伽马射线爆发余辉进行后续调查。 这一领域在过去二十年中取得了巨大进展，并将在今后几年中发挥重要作用。