Performance of a laser frequency comb calibration system with a high-resolution solar echelle spectrograph

H.-P. Doerr; T. J. Kentischer; T. Steinmetz; R. A. Probst; M. Franz; R. Holzwarth; Th. Udem; T. W. Hänsch; W. Schmidt

doi:10.1117/12.926224

13 September 2012 Performance of a laser frequency comb calibration system with a high-resolution solar echelle spectrograph

H.-P. Doerr, T. J. Kentischer, T. Steinmetz, R. A. Probst, M. Franz, R. Holzwarth, Th. Udem, T. W. Hänsch, W. Schmidt

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8450, Modern Technologies in Space- and Ground-based Telescopes and Instrumentation II; 84501G (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926224
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

Laser frequency combs (LFC) provide a direct link between the radio frequency (RF) and the optical frequency regime. The comb-like spectrum of an LFC is formed by exact equidistant laser modes, whose absolute optical frequencies are controlled by RF-references such as atomic clocks or GPS receivers. While nowadays LFCs are routinely used in metrological and spectroscopic fields, their application in astronomy was delayed until recently when systems became available with a mode spacing and wavelength coverage suitable for calibration of astronomical spectrographs. We developed a LFC based calibration system for the high-resolution echelle spectrograph at the German Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT), located at the Teide observatory, Tenerife, Canary Islands. To characterize the calibration performance of the instrument, we use an all-fiber setup where sunlight and calibration light are fed to the spectrograph by the same single-mode fiber, eliminating systematic effects related to variable grating illumination.

Citation Download Citation

H.-P. Doerr, T. J. Kentischer, T. Steinmetz, R. A. Probst, M. Franz, R. Holzwarth, Th. Udem, T. W. Hänsch, and W. Schmidt "Performance of a laser frequency comb calibration system with a high-resolution solar echelle spectrograph", Proc. SPIE 8450, Modern Technologies in Space- and Ground-based Telescopes and Instrumentation II, 84501G (13 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926224

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