Postdoctoral Fellowship: AAPF: Development of an MKID High Resolution Multi-Object Spectrometer

Ronald a. López被授予美国国家科学基金会天文学和天体物理学奖学金，在加州大学圣巴巴拉分校开展一项研究和教育计划。López将把新的探测器技术MKIDs应用到更传统的光谱仪器架构中，以开发一种进行多目标高分辨率光谱的新方法。这些探测器的独特特性可以在现代光谱仪中同时发现和表征系外行星，或者在不影响光谱分辨率的情况下拍摄星团的高分辨率光谱。López还将与科学与工程伙伴关系中心（CSEP）合作，开发和扩大专门为社区大学转学生量身定制的新的同伴指导计划。传统的高分辨率摄谱仪通常被设计用来拍摄单个目标的光谱或非常有限的视野。另一方面，多目标光谱仪通常需要在光谱分辨率、波长覆盖范围、目标数量和仪器成本之间做出妥协。该项目将使用微波动力学电感探测器（MKIDs）为开发新型高分辨率多目标光谱仪（HRMOS）铺平道路，而不需要降低分辨率或覆盖范围。MKIDs固有的能量分辨率可以消除对高分辨率光谱仪中交叉色散元件的需求，从而释放出宝贵的探测器空间，可以分配给多个目标的光谱。在这个项目的基础上，未来的光纤馈电MKID HRMOS将能够利用高色散日冕技术对恒星周围的一个全面区域进行采样，以探测和表征系外行星的大气。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Ronald A. López is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at University of California, Santa Barbara. López will apply new detector technology, MKIDs, to more conventional spectroscopic instrument architectures to develop a novel way to conduct multi-object high-resolution spectroscopy. The unique properties of these detectors can be used in modern spectrographs to discover and characterize exoplanets simultaneously, or take high-resolution spectra of star clusters without compromising spectral resolution. López will also work with the Center for Science and Engineering Partnership (CSEP) to develop and expand a new peer mentoring program specifically tailored toward community college transfer students.Conventional high-resolution spectrographs are typically designed to take spectra of single targets or very limited fields of view. On the other hand, multi-object spectrographs generally need to make compromises between spectral resolution, wavelength coverage, the number of targets, and instrument cost. This project will use microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) to pave the way towards developing a new class of high-resolution multi-object spectrographs (HRMOS) without the need to compromise resolution or coverage. The inherent energy resolution of the MKIDs can eliminate the requirement of a cross-dispersing element in a high-resolution spectrograph, freeing up valuable detector space that can be allocated to the spectra of multiple objects. Building on this proposed project, a future fiber-fed MKID HRMOS will be able to sample a comprehensive region around a star to detect and characterize exoplanet atmospheres using the high-dispersion coronagraphy technique.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.