Abstract

One key advantage of single-mode photonic technologies for interferometric use is their ability to easily scale to an ever-increasing number of inputs without a major increase in the overall device size, compared to traditional bulk optics. This is particularly important for the upcoming extremely large telescope (ELT) generation of telescopes currently under construction. We demonstrate the fabrication and characterization of a hybridized photonic interferometer, with eight simultaneous inputs, forming 28 baselines, which is the largest amount to date, to the best of our knowledge. Using different photonic fabrication technologies, we combine a 3D pupil remapper with a planar eight-port ABCD pairwise beam combiner, along with the injection optics necessary for telescope use, into a single integrated monolithic device. We successfully realized a combined device called Dragonfly, which demonstrates a raw instrumental closure-phase stability down to 0.9° over $8\pi$ phase piston error, relating to a detection contrast of ${\sim}6.5 \times {10^{- 4}}$ on an adaptive-optics-corrected 8 m telescope. This prototype successfully demonstrates advanced hybridization and packaging techniques necessary for on-sky use for high-contrast detection at small inner working angles, ideally complementing what can currently be achieved using coronagraphs.

© 2021 Optical Society of America

High-performance 3D waveguide architecture for astronomical pupil-remapping interferometry

Barnaby Norris, Nick Cvetojevic, Simon Gross, Nemanja Jovanovic, Paul N. Stewart, Ned Charles, Jon S. Lawrence, Michael J. Withford, and Peter Tuthill
Opt. Express 22(15) 18335-18353 (2014)

First stellar photons for an integrated optics discrete beam combiner at the William Herschel Telescope

Abani Shankar Nayak, Lucas Labadie, Tarun Kumar Sharma, Simone Piacentini, Giacomo Corrielli, Roberto Osellame, Éric Gendron, Jean-Tristan M. Buey, Fanny Chemla, Mathieu Cohen, Nazim A. Bharmal, Lisa F. Bardou, Lazar Staykov, James Osborn, Timothy J. Morris, Ettore Pedretti, Aline N. Dinkelaker, Kalaga V. Madhav, and Martin M. Roth
Appl. Opt. 60(19) D129-D142 (2021)

Pupil remapping for high contrast astronomy: results from an optical testbed

T. Kotani, S. Lacour, G. Perrin, G. Robertson, and P. Tuthill
Opt. Express 17(3) 1925-1934 (2009)

Achromatic photonic tricouplers for application in nulling interferometry

Marc-Antoine Martinod, Peter Tuthill, Simon Gross, Barnaby Norris, David Sweeney, and Michael J. Withford
Appl. Opt. 60(19) D100-D107 (2021)

Potential of commercial SiN MPW platforms for developing mid/high-resolution integrated photonic spectrographs for astronomy

Pradip Gatkine, Nemanja Jovanovic, Christopher Hopgood, Simon Ellis, Ronald Broeke, Katarzyna Ławniczuk, Jeffrey Jewell, J. Kent Wallace, and Dimitri Mawet
Appl. Opt. 60(19) D15-D32 (2021)