Newton STFC-NARIT: EXOhSPEC (Exoplanet high-resolution Spectrograph)

本项目的目的是实现一种新型的高分辨率光谱仪的日常运行。这个概念依赖于将地球引入的复杂性与光谱仪单元本身的要求分开。这种分离使得光谱仪侧的尺寸和复杂性大大降低，并且是NARIT和其他地方正在开发的自适应光学技术的自然补充。EXOhSPEC展示的概念可用于节省下一代超大型望远镜的数千万英镑的仪器成本，但也可由大学，公共和业余天文台重现，并为购买大型低效傅里叶变换光谱仪提供了一个有竞争力的替代方案。我们希望展示的关键发展是，（1）紧凑的廉价设计，可以实现与现有仪器在波长覆盖范围和光谱分辨率方面相同的性能，以及（2）定制的系统主动计量/驱动，以实现-甚至超过-最佳波长校准稳定性，并以一小部分的建设和运营成本生产设施仪器。虽然该仪器的原型是在赫特福德郡大学，设施仪器将在泰国生产，但从NARIT总部的0.7米Astropark望远镜以及泰国国家望远镜上操作原型版本中获得的见解。泰国政府对泰国国家天文研究所进行了大量投资，因此他们有新的实验室来建造仪器，并立即获得望远镜。目前的高分辨率光谱仪体积大，价格昂贵，有时难以维护，仅限于地球仪的少数精英大学和实验室。此外，由于这些仪器非常昂贵，技术周期和设计发展得很少，并且没有利用新材料和大规模生产的光学器件的巨大质量改进和降低的成本。我们的原型设计的关键发现之一是，渐变折射率光纤的锥形化是不受几何光学限制的光纤信号的有效聚焦减小。泰国专家对此进行的优化可能是该项目的一个关键副产品。一个国家的经济发展和福利取决于关键的基础设施和劳动力的能力。在物理学领域，特别是天体物理学领域，设计和制造仪器以及测量和解释其他行星，恒星和星系中过渡特性的能力是理解宇宙特性的关键基石。几十年来，高分辨率光谱学一直是天体物理学的主要工具，也是实现新的基础天体物理学的驱动力。从发现附近恒星周围的行星到直接测量宇宙的大小。在世界范围内，长期以来，望远镜上最超额订购的仪器一直是高分辨率光谱仪。虽然泰国有一个大型望远镜和一些小型望远镜，但它没有高分辨率的摄谱仪。该提案旨在利用海外发展援助资金发展泰国的基础设施和能力，同时深化已经在技术和科学上富有成效的合作，并为参与该项目的英国科学家和工程师带来长期利益。

The project is to realise a new kind of high-resolution spectrograph in routine operation. The concept relies on separating the complexity introduced by Earth from the requirements of the spectrometer unit itself. This separation enables a massive reduction in size and complexity on the spectrometer side and it is the natural complement to Adaptive Optics technologies being developed at NARIT and elsewhere. The concepts demonstrated with EXOhSPEC can be used to save tens of millions of pounds in instrumentation costs on the coming generation of extremely large telescopes but also be reproducible by University, public and amateur observatories and offer a competitive alternative to the purchase of large inefficient Fourier transform spectrometers in the wider marketplace. The key developments that we wish to demonstrate are, (1) a compact inexpensive design that can achieve the same performance as existing instruments in terms of wavelength coverage and spectral resolution and (2) bespoke active metrology/actuation of the system to achieve -or even surpass- the best wavelength calibration stability at a fraction of construction and operation costs and to produce a facility instrument. While the prototyping for this instrument is at the University of Hertfordshire, the facility instrument will be produced in Thailand but with the insight gained from operating a prototype versions on the 0.7m Astropark telescope at NARIT headquarters as well at that the Thai National Telescope. The Thai government has made a large investment in the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand and so they have the new laboratories in which to build the instrument as well as immediate access to telescopes. Current high-resolution spectrographs are large, expensive and sometimes difficult to maintain and limited to an elite handful of universities and laboratories around the globe. Moreover, because these instruments are so expensive, technology cycles and designs have evolved very little and do not take advantage of the great quality improvement and reduced costs of new materials and mass produced optics. One of the key findings of our prototyping is that the tapering of graded-index fibres is an efficient focal reduction of fibre optic signals not limited by geometrical optics. The optimisation of this by Thai specialists may prove to be a key spinoff of the project. The economic development and welfare of a country relies on key infrastructure and the capabilities of the workforce. In the field of physics and in particular astrophysics, the ability to design and make instruments and to measure and interpret the properties of the transitions in other planets, stars and galaxies is a key cornerstone to understand the properties of the Universe. High-resolution spectroscopy has for decades being a primary tool of astrophysics and a driving force in enabling new fundamental astrophysics. From the discovery of planets around nearby stars to the direct measurement of the size of the Universe. Worldwide, the most oversubscribed instruments on telescopes have long been the high-resolution spectrographs. Although Thailand has a large telescope and a number of smaller ones it does not have a high resolution spectrograph. The proposal is aimed at using Overseas Development Aid funding to develop Thai infrastructure and capabilities while at the same time deepening a collaboration which has been already been technically and scientifically productive and also have long-term benefit to the UK scientists and engineers involved in the project.