Photonic Synthesis of Large Aperture Telescopes from Multi-Telescope Arrays

现代天体物理仪器的中心技术主题是发展越来越大的望远镜，使用更大直径的镜子来收集越来越多的光线。在天体物理现象的研究中，更多的聚光能力直接转化为敏感性。目前使用的最大的可见光望远镜直径为10米，目前正在积极研究30米的设计。然而，现代望远镜的成本增加得比主镜的大小快得多，以至于雄心勃勃地增加口径几乎成了令人望而却步的费用。获得这一奖项的提案以一种不同的和高度创新的方式解决了增加天文聚光能力的问题。一个单一的大口径被许多较小的望远镜取代，这些望远镜的光线通过光纤传输到一个公共点。根据本奖项提出的概念，预计节省成本的总体规模大约是全口径望远镜的十倍，可能更多。演示系统将是一个由四个小型望远镜组成的模块，它们加在一起，聚集光的能力相当于一个0.7米望远镜。该系统将与阿根廷的icate研究所合作，与bhros光谱仪连接。这一演示将消除光子合成阵列方法的主要技术问题的风险，将这种变革性技术作为传统构建方法的经济高效的替代方案，以实现聚光功率的大幅进步。该项目将在许多方面涉及并培训学生。它还可能产生更广泛的影响，因为它可能使一系列天文仪器的实际性能得到改善，所有这些都将受益于增加的光收集能力。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。

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.