DAM (Discretized Aperture Mapping) is an original filtering device able to improve the performance in high-angular resolution and high-contrast imaging by the present class of large telescopes equipped with adaptive optics (Patru et al. 2011, 2014, 2015). DAM is a high-spatial frequency filter able to remove the problematic phase errors produced by the small scale defects in the wavefront. Various effects are related to high-order aberrations (ie the high-spatial frequency content) which are neither seen by any wavefront sensor (WFS) nor corrected by any adaptive optics (AO) and is thus transmitted up to the final detector. In particular, any wavefront sensor, due to its finite sub-apertures size, is fundamentally limited by the well-known aliasing effect, where high-spatial frequencies are seen as spurious low frequencies. DAM can be used as an anti-aliasing filter in order to improve both the accuracy of the WFS measurements and the stability of the AO compensation.
DAM (Discretized Aperture Mapping) is an original optical concept able to improve the performance in high angular resolution and high contrast imaging by the present class of large telescopes equipped with adaptive optics. By discretizing the entrance pupil of a large telescope into an array of many coherent sub-apertures, DAM provides unique imaging and filtering properties by means of spatial filtering and interferometric techniques. DAM can be achieved by means of single-mode fibers, integrated optic waveguides, pinholes, or simply with an innovative BIGRE optical device. BIGRE is formed of an afocal double micro-lenses array. In addition to the pupil discretization process by spatial filtering, BIGRE can also provide two other optical processes: the pupil densification or the pupil dilution. DAD (Discretized Aperture Densification) increase the sub-aperture sizes and is suitable to a hypertelescope, whereas DADI (Discretized Aperture Dilution Interferometry) reduces the sub-aperture sizes and turns a large telescope into a Fizeau interferometer. This paper deals with the first in-lab experiment at visible wavelength of BIGRE devices for the three configurations above. We study the point spread function (PSF) when observing a point-like object located either on-axis or at various off-axis positions across the field of view. Both interferometric and diffractive effects are described. The experimental measurements are in good agreement with the BIGRE theory. It results that BIGRE fulfils the requirements to carry out spatially filtered pupil discretization (DAM), with possible densification (DAD) or dilution (DADI).
The VLT second generation instrument SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanets Research) was commissioned in the Summer of 2014, and offered to the community in the Spring of 2015. SPHERE is a high contrast imager that exploits its three scientific channels in order to observe and discover young warm exoplanets in the glare of their host stars. The three scientific instrument are: ZIMPOL, a polarization analyzer and imager that works in the visible range of wavelength, IRDIS a dual band imager and spectro polarimetric Camera that works in the NIR range up to K band, and IFS, an integral field spectrograph working in the YJH band. Very important is the complementarity between IRDIS and IFS. The former has a larger Field of view (about 12 arcseconds) while the IFS push its examination very close to the central star (FoV ~ 1.7 arcsec). In one year of operational time a lot of very interesting scientific cases were investigated and very nice results were gathered. In this paper we would like to focus the attention on the high quality results and performances obtained with the IFS.
The Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS) is a new-generation instrument for the Cassegrain focus of the ESO UT4/VLT, aimed at performing AO-assisted imaging and medium resolution spectroscopy in the 1-5 micron wavelength range. ERIS consists of the 1-5 micron imaging camera NIX, the 1-2.5 micron integral field spectrograph SPIFFIER (a modified version of SPIFFI, currently operating on SINFONI), the AO module and the internal Calibration Unit (ERIS CU). The purpose of this unit is to provide facilities to calibrate the scientific instruments in the 1-2.5 micron and to perform troubleshooting and periodic maintenance tests of the AO module (e.g. NGS and LGS WFS internal calibrations and functionalities, ERIS differential flexures) in the 0.5 – 1 μm range. The ERIS CU must therefore be designed in order to provide, over the full 0.5 – 2.5 μm range, the following capabilities: 1) illumination of both the telescope focal plane and the telescope pupil with a high-degree of uniformity; 2) artificial point-like and extended sources onto the telescope focal plane, with high accuracy in both positioning and FWHM; 3) wavelength calibration; 4) high stability of these characteristics. In this paper the design of the ERIS CU, and the solutions adopted to fulfill all these requirements, is described. The ERIS CU construction is foreseen to start at the end of 2016.
ERIS is the new AO instrument for VLT-UT4 led by a Consortium of Max-Planck Institut fuer Extraterrestrische Physik, UK-ATC, ETH-Zurich, ESO and INAF. The ERIS AO system provides NGS mode to deliver high contrast correction and LGS mode to extend high Strehl performance to large sky coverage. The AO module includes NGS and LGS wavefront sensors and, with VLT-AOF Deformable Secondary Mirror and Laser Facility, will provide AO correction to the high resolution imager NIX (1–5um) and the IFU spectrograph SPIFFIER (1–2.5um). In this paper we present the preliminary design of the ERIS AO system and the estimated correction performance.
Following the unprecedented results in terms of performances delivered by the first light adaptive optics system at the Large Binocular Telescope, there has been a wide-spread and increasing interest on the pyramid wavefront sensor (PWFS), which is the key component, together with the adaptive secondary mirror, of the adaptive optics (AO) module. Currently, there is no straightforward way to model a PWFS in standard sequential ray-tracing software. Common modeling strategies tend to be user-specific and, in general, are unsatisfactory for general applications. To address this problem, we have developed an approach to PWFS modeling based on user-defined surface (UDS), whose properties reside in a specific code written in C language, for the ray-tracing software ZEMAX™. With our approach, the pyramid optical component is implemented as a standard surface in ZEMAX™, exploiting its dynamic link library (DLL) conversion then greatly simplifying ray tracing and analysis. We have utilized the pyramid UDS DLL surface—referred to as pyramidal acronyms may be too risky (PAM2R)—in order to design the current PWFS-based AO system for the Giant Magellan Telescope, evaluating tolerances, with particular attention to the angular sensitivities, by means of sequential ray-tracing tools only, thus verifying PAM2R reliability and robustness. This work indicates that PAM2R makes the design of PWFS as simple as that of other optical standard components. This is particularly suitable with the advent of the extremely large telescopes era for which complexity is definitely one of the main challenges.
Discretized Aperture Mapping (DAM) appears as an original filtering technique easy to play with existing adaptive optics
(AO) systems. In its essential DAM operates as an optical passive filter removing part of the phase residuals in the
wavefront without introducing any difficult-to-align component in the Fourier conjugate of the entrance pupil plane. DAM
reveals as a new interferometric technique combined with spatial filtering allowing direct imaging over a narrow field of
view (FOV). In fact, the entrance pupil of a single telescope is divided into many sub-pupils so that the residual phase
in each sub-pupil is filtered up to the DAM cut-off frequency. DAM enables to smooth the small scale wavefront defects
which correspond to high spatial frequencies in the pupil plane and to low angular frequencies in the image plane. Close to
the AO Nyquist frequency, such pupil plane spatial frequencies are not well measured by the wavefront sensor (WFS) due
to aliasing. Once bigger than the AO Nyquist frequency, they are no more measured by the WFS due to the fitting limit
responsible for the narrow AO FOV. The corresponding image plane angular frequencies are not transmitted by DAM and
are useless to image small FOVs, as stated by interferometry. That is why AO and DAM are complementary assuming that
the DAM cut-off frequency is equal to the AO Nyquist frequency. Here we describe the imaging capabilities when DAM is
placed downstream an AO system, over a convenient pupil which precedes the scientific detector. We show firstly that the
imaging properties are preserved on a narrow FOV allowing direct imaging throughout interferometry. Then we show how
the residual pupil plane spatial frequencies bigger than the AO Nyquist one are filtered out, as well as the residual halo in
the image is dimmed.
We present the results of the laboratory characterization of the ARGOS LGS wavefront sensor (LGSW) and dichroic units. ARGOS is the laser guide star adaptive optics system of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). It implements a Ground Layer Adaptive Optics (GLAO) correction for LUCI, an infrared imager and multi-object spectrograph (MOS), using 3 pulsed Rayleigh beacons focused at 12km altitude. The LGSW is a Shack-Hartman sensor having 15 × 15 subaspertures over the telescope pupil. Each LGS is independently stabilized for on-sky jitter and gated to reduce spot elongation. The 3 LGS pupils are stabilized to compensate mechanical flexure and are arranged on a single detector. Two units of LGSW have been produced and tested at Arcetri Observatory. We report on the results obtained in the pre-shipment laboratory test: internal active flexure compensation loop performance, optomechanical stability under different gravity conditions, thermal cycling, Pockels cells performance. We also update on the upcoming installation and commissioning campaign at LBT.
The NGSAO, a single conjugated AO system operating with natural guide star, will be the first AO system to be operative at the Giant Magellan Telescope. The Natural Guide star Wavefront Sensor will be in charge of the entire wavefront error measurement, namely atmospheric turbulence and telescope aberrations, including the segment differential piston error. In this paper we report the opto-mechanical design of the NGWS that successfully passed the preliminary design review in July 2013. Moreover, we present the NGSAO control strategy identified for the GMT segmented pupil and the system performances for different conditions of seeing and reference star magnitude.
SPHERE is an instrument aimed to the search for low mass companions around young stars in the solar neighborhood. To achieve this goal light from the host star (and in particular the speckle pattern due to the telescope aberrations) should be strongly attenuated while avoiding to cancel out the light from the faint companion. Different techniques can be used to fulfill this aim exploiting the multi-wavelength datacube produced by the Integral Field Spectrograph that is one of the scientific modules that composes SPHERE. In particular we have tested the application of the Spectral Deconvolution and of the Principal Components Analysis techniques. Both of them allow us to obtained a contrast better than 10−5 with respect to the central star at separations of the order of 0.4 arcsec. A further improvement of one order of magnitude can be obtained by combining one of these techniques to the Angular Differential Imaging. To investigate the expected performance of IFS in characterizing detected objects we injected in laboratory data synthetics planets with different intrinsic fluxes and projected separations from the host star. We performed a complete astrometric and photometric analysis of these images to evaluate the expected errors on these measurements, the spectral fidelity and the differences between the reduction methods. The main issue is to avoid the strong self-cancellation that is inherent to all the reduction methods. We have in particular tested two possible solutions: the use of a mask during the reduction on the positions of the companions or, alternatively, using a KLIP procedure for the IFS. This latter seems to give better results in respect o the classical PCA, allowing us to obtain a good spectral reconstruction for simulated objects down to a contrast of ~10-5.
The Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS) is the new Adaptive Optics based instrument for ESO’s VLT aiming at replacing NACO and SINFONI to form a single compact facility with AO fed imaging and integral field unit spectroscopic scientific channels. ERIS completes the instrument suite at the VLT adaptive telescope. In particular it is equipped with a versatile AO system that delivers up to 95% Strehl correction in K band for science observations up to 5 micron It comprises high order NGS and LGS correction enabling the observation from exoplanets to distant galaxies with a large sky coverage thanks to the coupling of the LGS WFS with the high sensitivity of its visible WFS and the capability to observe in dust embedded environment thanks to its IR low order WFS. ERIS will be installed at the Cassegrain focus of the VLT unit hosting the Adaptive Optics Facility (AOF). The wavefront correction is provided by the AOF deformable secondary mirror while the Laser Guide Star is provided by one of the four launch units of the 4 Laser Guide Star Facility for the AOF. The overall layout of the ERIS AO system is extremely compact and highly optimized: the SPIFFI spectrograph is fed directly by the Cassegrain focus and both the NIX’s (IR imager) and SPIFFI’s entrance windows work as visible/infrared dichroics. In this paper we describe the concept of the ERIS AO system in detail, starting from the requirements and going through the estimated performance, the opto-mechanical design and the Real-Time Computer design.
The use of tilted elements in fast convergent beams like a dichroic unit is always a delicate matter in optical design. In adaptive optics (AO) applications this issue proves itself to be more severe with respect to classical imaging or spectroscopy: this due to the fact that the laser is co-moving with the launch telescope system while the natural guide star is co-moving with the sky. Because of the GMT design, during AO operations this condition translates as that the laser guide star moves around the target while the natural guide star does not. In this context, we studied two options for a high-optical quality and an easy to-plug-in dichroic unit dividing lasers beacons (reflected) and natural stars (transmitted). Beyond their different optical performances and mechanical implementations, these options are able both to accomplish the main goal of simultaneous operation of natural and laser-oriented AO at the GMT. One of these two has successfully passed the GMT AO Preliminary Design Review (PDR) on July 2013.
ERIS is the new Single Conjugate Adaptive Optics (AO) instrument for VLT in construction at ESO with the collaboration of Max-Planck Institut fuer Extraterrestrische Physik, ETH-Institute for Astronomy and INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri. The ERIS AO system relies on a 40×40 sub-aperture Pyramid Wavefront Sensor (PWFS) for two operating modes: a pure Natural Guide Star high-order sensing for high Strehl and contrast correction and a low-order visible sensing in support of the Laser Guide Star AO mode. In this paper we present in detail the preliminary design of the ERIS PWFS that is developed under the responsibility of INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri in collaboration with ESO.
The Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS) is the next-generation adaptive optics near-IR imager and
spectrograph for the Cassegrain focus of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) Unit Telescope 4, which will soon make full
use of the Adaptive Optics Facility (AOF). It is a high-Strehl AO-assisted instrument that will use the Deformable
Secondary Mirror (DSM) and the new Laser Guide Star Facility (4LGSF). The project has been approved for
construction and has entered its preliminary design phase. ERIS will be constructed in a collaboration including the Max-
Planck Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich and the Osservatorio
Astrofisico di Arcetri and will offer 1 - 5 μm imaging and 1 - 2.5 μm integral field spectroscopic capabilities with a high
Strehl performance. Wavefront sensing can be carried out with an optical high-order NGS Pyramid wavefront sensor, or
with a single laser in either an optical low-order NGS mode, or with a near-IR low-order mode sensor. Due to its highly
sensitive visible wavefront sensor, and separate near-IR low-order mode, ERIS provides a large sky coverage with its 1’
patrol field radius that can even include AO stars embedded in dust-enshrouded environments. As such it will replace,
with a much improved single conjugated AO correction, the most scientifically important imaging modes offered by
NACO (diffraction limited imaging in the J to M bands, Sparse Aperture Masking and Apodizing Phase Plate (APP)
coronagraphy) and the integral field spectroscopy modes of SINFONI, whose instrumental module, SPIFFI, will be
upgraded and re-used in ERIS. As part of the SPIFFI upgrade a new higher resolution grating and a science detector
replacement are envisaged, as well as PLC driven motors. To accommodate ERIS at the Cassegrain focus, an extension
of the telescope back focal length is required, with modifications of the guider arm assembly. In this paper we report on
the status of the baseline design. We will also report on the main science goals of the instrument, ranging from exoplanet
detection and characterization to high redshift galaxy observations. We will also briefly describe the SINFONI-SPIFFI
upgrade strategy, which is part of the ERIS development plan and the overall project timeline.
MarcoPolo-R is a medium-class space mission proposed for the 2015-2025 ESA Cosmic Vision Program with primary goal to return to Earth an unaltered sample from a primitive near-Earth asteroid (NEA). Among the proposed instruments
on board, its narrow-angle camera (NAC) should be able to image the candidate object with spatial resolution of 3 mm
per pixel at 200 m from its surface. The camera should also be able to support the lander descent operations by imaging
the target from several distances in order to locate a suitable place for the landing. Hence a refocusing system is requested to accomplish this task, extending its imaging capabilities. Here we present a three-mirror anastigmat (TMA)
common-axis optical design, providing high-quality imaging performances by selecting as entrance pupil the system aperture stop and exploiting the motion of a single mirror inside the instrument to allow the wide image refocusing requested, from infinity up to 200 m above the NEA surface. Such proposal matches with the NAC technical
specifications and can be easily implemented with present day technology.
Detection of exoplanets implies the measure of extremely weak signals, usually below intensity perturbations in the PSF caused by static aberrations. We have finished the construction of a new test bench called FFREE - Fresnel Free
Experiment for EPICS. The scope of the FFREE experiment is the active speckles correction using off-line cancellation
techniques: Electric Field Conjugation and Phase Diversity, in view of a future instrument EPICS for the telescope EELT
(ESO). We will describe the system and discuss some characteristics like the chromatism and the environmental
stability of the bench.
Dense Aperture Masking (DAM) is a new interferometric technique allowing high-angular resolution over a narrow
field of view (FOV) imaged by the present class of mono-pupil telescopes equipped with adaptive optics (AO). DAM is
realized by a suited afocal double lenslet array (BIGRE), remapping the entrance aperture (telescope pupil) into coherent
sub-apertures (sub-pupils), and adopted as sub-pupils spatial filter and re-imager.We focus our attention on the point spread
function (PSF) properties of DAM, highlighting those related to spatial sampling and filtering of the frequency coverage of
the entrance pupil.We stress why the high spatial frequency sampling of the pupil and the low spatial frequency filtering of
the sub-pupils are consistent with both a mono-pupil (telescope) and an array of sub-pupils (hypertelescope). We explain
how DAM provides high Strehl and high-angular resolution images, first by filtering the low frequencies, which in turn are
not so well corrected with a standard AO, second by preserving an object-image convolution relation over a narrow FOV.
Finally, we make a comparison with the imaging properties of a telescope and a hypertelescope with the aim to show the
complementary of DAM with other techniques adopted in high-contrast imaging.
Dense Aperture Masking (DAM) is a high-contrast imaging technique which enhances the capabilities of the current
direct imaging instrumentation, mainly to detect low bright companions at small separation from their parent star. DAM
benefits from the experience achieved with the integral field unit installed on SPHERE spectrograph at the VLT
(BIGRE, Antichi et al. 2009) with a very similar optical design. More in detail, it is obtained by exploiting the BIGRE
integral field unit - composed of two consecutive micro-lens arrays - to subdivide the telescope pupil in many sub-pupils,
preserving their relative position and providing the same amount of spatial filtering to each one. We present here results
of a system study we pursued for a proficient implementation of BIGRE-DAM. We focus on the case of an 8 m class
telescope coupled with the instrument NACO at the VLT. We detail on how the optical design and the related
mechanical implementation of a DAM unit could be successfully achieved within NACO thanks to a wise optimization
of the BIGRE micro-lenses array, adopted as sub-pupils re-imager instead of integral field unit. Diffraction limit is
achieved by optical design and good apochromatic performances are proven for a narrow-band filter around 2.18 micron.
During the last months IFS, is the Integral Field Spectrograph for SPHERE, devoted to the search of exoplanets has been
integrated in the clean room of Padova Observatory. The design of IFS is based on a new concept of double microlens
array sampling the focal plane. This device named BIGRE consists of a system made of two microlens arrays with
different focal lengths and thickness equal to the sum of them and precisely aligned each other. Moreover a mask has
been deposited on the first array to produce a field stop for each lenslet, and a second mask is located on the intermediate
pupil of the IFS to provide an aperture stop. After characterization of a previous prototype of BIGRE in the visible range,
now the first measurements of the performances of the device in the IR range have been obtained on the instrument that
will be mounted at the VLT telescope. These tests confirmed that specifications and properties of the prototype are met
by state of the art on optics microlens manufacturing.
ESO and a large European consortium completed the phase-A study of EPICS, an instrument dedicated to exoplanets
direct imaging for the EELT. The very ambitious science goals of EPICS, the imaging of reflected light of mature gas
giant exoplanets around bright stars, sets extremely strong requirements in terms of instrumental contrast achievable. The
segmented nature of an ELT appears as a very large source of quasi-static high order speckles that can impair the
detection of faint sources with small brightness contrast with respect to their parent star. The paper shows how the
overall system has been designed in order to maximize the efficiency of quasi-static speckles rejection by calibration and
post-processing using the spectral and polarization dependency of light waves. The trade-offs that led to the choice of the
concepts for common path and diffraction suppression system is presented. The performance of the instrument is
predicted using simulations of the extreme Adaptive Optics system and polychromatic wave-front propagation through
the various optical elements.
The purpose of FFREE - the new optical bench devoted to experiments on high-contrast imaging at LAOG - consists in
the validation of algorithms based on off-line calibration techniques and adaptive optics (AO) respectively for the
wavefront measurement and its compensation. The aim is the rejection of the static speckles pattern arising in a focal
plane after a diffraction suppression system (based on apodization or coronagraphy) by wavefront pre-compensation. To
this aim, FFREE has been optimized to minimize Fresnel propagation over a large near infrared (NIR) bandwidth in a
way allowing efficient rejection up to the AO control radius, it stands then as a demonstrator for the future
implementation of the optics that will be common to the scientific instrumentation installed on EPICS.
Currently in the phase of the assembly, the Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) is part of Sphere, which will see the first
light at ESO Paranal as a VLT second generation instruments in the 2011. In this paper we will describe the main aspects
in the Assembly, Integration and Testing phase (AIT) of the instrument at INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova
(OAPD) laboratory at the current stage. As result of the AIT, a full set of tests and qualifications of IFS subcomponents
will be discussed. These tests have been designed and realized with the purpose to obtain an accurate comparison
between design goals and effective performances of the instrument.
Presently, dedicated instruments at large telescopes (SPHERE for the VLT, GPI for Gemini) are about to discover and
explore self-luminous giant planets by direct imaging and spectroscopy. The next generation of 30m-40m ground-based
telescopes, the Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs), have the potential to dramatically enlarge the discovery space
towards older giant planets seen in reflected light and ultimately even a small number of rocky planets. EPICS is a
proposed instrument for the European ELT, dedicated to the detection and characterization of Exoplanets by direct
imaging, spectroscopy and polarimetry. ESO completed a phase-A study for EPICS with a large European consortium
which - by simulations and demonstration experiments - investigated state-of-the-art diffraction and speckle suppression
techniques to deliver highest contrasts. The paper presents the instrument concept and analysis as well as its main
innovations and science capabilities. EPICS is capable of discovering hundreds of giant planets, and dozens of lower
mass planets down to the rocky planets domain.
The SPHERE is an exo-solar planet imager, which goal is to detect giant exo-solar planets in the vicinity of bright stars
and to characterize them through spectroscopic and polarimetric observations. It is a complete system with a core made
of an extreme-Adaptive Optics (AO) wavefront correction, a pupil tracker and diffraction suppression through a variety
of coronagraphs. At its back end, a differential dual imaging camera and an integral field spectrograph (IFS) work in the
Near Infrared (NIR) Y, J, H and Ks bands (0.95 - 2.32μm), and a high resolution polarization camera covers the optical
range (0.6 - 0.9 μm). The IFS is a low resolution spectrograph (R~50) working in the near IR (0.95-1.65 microns), an
ideal wavelength range for the detection of giant planet features. In our baseline design the IFU is a new philosophy
microlens array of about 145x145 elements designed to reduce as much as possible the cross talk when working at
diffraction limit. The IFU will cover a field of view of about 1.7 x 1.7 square arcsecs reaching a contrast of 10-7,
providing a high contrast and high spatial resolution "imager" able to search for planet well inside the star PSF.
Integral field spectroscopy (IFS) is extremely useful for high-contrast imaging purposes and integral field units (IFU)
based on a matrix of lenses are suitable to guarantee low level of differential aberrations among the array of light
footprints reaching the detector. To this purpose a new optical concept (BIGRE) for the lenses array adopted in integral
field spectroscopy is here fully described, and characterized in the working case of two IFS instruments devoted to high-contrast
imaging of extrasolar planets: SPHERE and EPICS, respectively for a 10 meter class telescope (VLT) and a 40
meter class (E-ELT) telescope. The aim of this work is the explanation of the BIGRE optical concept and its
implementation on two IFS optical designs, optimized respectively for SPHERE and EPICS.
Direct detection and spectral characterization of extra-solar planets is one of the most exciting but also one of the most
challenging areas in modern astronomy. The challenge consists in the very large contrast between the host star and the
planet, larger than 12.5 magnitudes at very small angular separations, typically inside the seeing halo. The whole design
of a "Planet Finder" instrument is therefore optimized towards reaching the highest contrast in a limited field of view and
at short distances from the central star. Both evolved and young planetary systems can be detected, respectively through
their reflected light and through the intrinsic planet emission. We present the science objectives, conceptual design and
expected performance of the SPHERE instrument.
Integral field spectroscopy coupled with an extreme adaptive optics system and coronagraphy allows a marked
improvement of the standard spectroscopic simultaneous differential imaging calibration technique. Hence, with an
integral field spectrograph (IFS) direct imaging of extrasolar giant planets becomes potentially feasible over a wide
range of ages, masses, and separations from the hosting stars. This aim represents the prime goal of the planet finder
instrument for the VLT (SPHERE). Inside SPHERE, the IFS channel exploits various spectral features of the candidate
planets in the near infrared, in order to reduce the speckles noise at the level of the stellar background noise, over a field
of view comprised between the coronagraphic inner working angle and the outer working angle provided by the
SPHERE extreme adaptive optic system (SAXO). The IFS allows then to realize an extensive spectroscopic
simultaneous differential imaging calibration technique, and at least in few cases, to get the spectrum of the candidate
extrasolar giant planets. Here we present the IFS baseline design, which is based upon a new optical concept we
developed for its integral field unit (BIGRE). When applied to the technical specifications of SPHERE IFS, a BIGRE
integral field unit is able to take into account all the effects appearing when integral field spectroscopy is used in
diffraction limited conditions and for high-contrast imaging purposes. Finally a BIGRE-oriented IFS optical design is
shown here to reach the requested high optical quality by standard lenses-based optical devices.
SPHERE is an exo-solar planet imager, which goal is to detect giant exo-solar planets in the vicinity of bright stars and
to characterize them through spectroscopic and polarimetric observations. It is a complete system with a core made of an
extreme-Adaptive Optics (AO) turbulence correction, pupil tracker and interferential coronagraphs. At its back end, a
differential dual imaging camera and an integral field spectrograph (IFS) work in the Near Infrared (NIR) Y, J, H and Ks
bands (0.95 - 2.32μm) and a high resolution polarization camera covers the visible (0.6 - 0.9 μm). The IFS is a low
resolution spectrograph (R~50 and R~30) which works in the near IR (0.95-1.7 microns), an ideal wavelength range for
the detection of planetary features. In our baseline design the IFU is a new philosophy microlens array of about 145x145
elements designed to reduce as low as possible the contrast. The IFU will cover a field of view of about 1.8 x 1.8 square
arcsecs reaching a contrast of 10-7, giving an high contrast and high spatial resolution "imager" able to search for planet
well inside the star PSF.
IFS is the Integral Field Spectrograph for SPHERE, a 2nd generation instrument for VLT devoted to the search of
exoplanets.
To achieve the performances required for the IFS a new device sampling the focal plane has been designed, prototyped
and tested in laboratory. This device named BIGRE consists of a system made of two microlens arrays with different
focal lengths and thickness equal to the sum of them and precisely aligned each other. Moreover a mask has been
deposited on the first array to produce a field stop for each lenslet. Laboratory tests confirmed that specifications and
properties of the prototype are met by state of the art on optics microlens manufacturing.
To characterize the device, a simulator of IFS has been built in laboratory and the BIGRE properties have been tested in
real working conditions, showing that the design of the double array fulfills IFS requirements.
The 2nd generation VLT instrument SPHERE will include an integral field spectrograph to enhance the capabilities
of detection of planetary companions close to bright stars. SPHERE-IFS is foreseen to work in near
IR (0.95-1.65 micron) at low spectral resolution. This paper describes the observing strategies, the adopted
hardware solutions for calibrating the instrument, and the data reduction procedures that are mandatory for the
achievement of the extreme contrast performances for which the instrument is designed.
Direct detection and spectral characterization of Extrasolar Planets is one of the most exciting but also one of the most
challenging areas in modern astronomy.
For the second-generation instrumentation on the VLT, ESO has supported the study and the design of instrument, called
SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research). SPHERE includes a powerful extreme adaptive
optics system, various coronagraphs, an infrared differential imaging camera (IRDIS), an infrared Integral Field
Spectrograph (IFS) and a visible differential polarimeter (ZIMPOL).
IFS is a very low resolution spectrograph (R~50) which works in the near IR (0.95-1.7 microns), an ideal wavelength
range for the ground based detection of planetary features. The IFS requirements have been met via an innovative
integrated design merging passive stiffness and active control to obtain a light, accessible and functional assembly. This
paper gives a description of its cryogenic and mechatronic integrated design.
The SPHERE is an exo-solar planet imager, which goal is to detect giant exo-solar planets in the vicinity of bright stars
and to characterize them through spectroscopic and polarimetric observations. It is a complete system with a core made
of an extreme-Adaptive Optics (AO) turbulence correction, pupil tracker and interferential coronagraphs. At its back
end, an Infra-Red Dual-beam Imaging and Spectroscopy science module and an integral field spectrograph work in
the Near Infrared (NIR) Y, J, H and Ks bands (0.95 - 2.32μm) and a high resolution polarization camera covers the
visible (0.6 - 0.9 μm) region. We describe briefly the science goals of the instrument and deduce the top-level
requirements. This paper presents the system architecture, and reviews each of the main sub-systems. The results of the
latest end-to-end simulations are shown and an update of the expected performance is given. The project has been
officially kicked-off in March 2006, it is presently undergoing Preliminary Design Review and is scheduled for 1st
light in early 2011. This paper reviews the present design of SPHERE but focuses on the changes implemented since
this project was presented the last time to this audience.
SPHERE is an instrument designed and built by a consortium of French, German, Italian, Swiss and Dutch institutes in collaboration with ESO. The project is currently in its Phase B. The main goal of SPHERE is to gain at least one order of magnitude with respect to the present VLT AO facility (NACO) in the direct detection of faint objects very close to a bright star, especially giant extrasolar planets. Apart from a high Strehl ratio, the instrument will be designed to reduce the scattered light of the central bright star and subtract the residual speckle halo. Sophisticated post-AO capabilities are needed to provide maximum detectivity and possibly physical data on the putative planets.
The Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS), one of the three scientific channels foreseen in the SPHERE design, is a very low resolution spectrograph (R~20) which works in the near IR (0.95-1.35 μm), an ideal wavelength range for the ground based detection of planetary features. Its goal is to suppress speckle to a contrast of 107, with a goal of 108, and at the same time provide spectral information in a field of view of about 1.5 × 1.5 arcsecs2 in proximity of the target star.
In this paper we describe the overall IFS design concept.
The Planet Finder instrument for ESO's VLT telescope, scheduled for first light in 2010, aims to detect giant extra-solar planets in the vicinity of bright stars and to characterise the objects found through spectroscopic and polarimetric observations. The observations will be done both within the Y, J, H and Ks atmospheric windows (~0.95 - 2.32μm) by the aid of a dual imaging camera (IRDIS) and an integral field spectrograph (IFS), and in the visible using a fast-modulation polarization camera (ZIMPOL). The instrument employs an extreme-AO turbulence compensation system, focal plane tip-tilt correction, and interferential coronagraphs. We describe briefly the science goals of the instrument and deduce the top-level requirements. The system architecture is presented, including brief descriptions of each of the main sub-systems. Expected performance is described in terms of end-to-end simulations, and a semi-analytic performance-estimation tool for system-level sensitivity analysis is presented.
The Exo-Planets Imaging Camera and Spectrograph (EPICS), is the Planet Finder Instrument concept for the European
Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). The study made in the frame of the OWL 100-m telescope concept is being up-dated
in direct relation with the re-baselining activities of the European Extremely Large Telescope.
A new IDL code for simulations of observation made with an Integral Field Spectrograph attached to an adaptive optics system is here presented in detail. It is conceived to support CHEOPS, a high contrast imaging instrument for exo-planets detection. The aim of this sofware is to achieve simulated images and spectra considering realistic values of speckle noise, Adaptive Optics corrections and the specific instrumental features. This code can help us in particular to simulate close binary systems or exo-planetary system, in order to find the limit of detectability of faint objects using simultaneous differential imaging.
CHEOPS is a 2nd generation VLT instrument for the direct detection of extrasolar planets. The project is currently in its Phase A. It consists of an high order adaptive optics system which provides the necessary Strehl ratio for the differential polarimetric imager (ZIMPOL) and an Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS). The IFS is a very low resolution spectrograph (R~15) which works in the near IR (0.95-1.7 μm), an ideal wavelength range for the ground based detection of planetary features. In our baseline design, the Integral Field Unit (IFU) is a microlens array of about 250x250 elements which will cover a field of view of about 3.5x3.5 arcsecs2 in proximity of the target star. In this paper we describe the instrument, its preliminary optical design and the basic requirements about detectors. In a separate contribution to this conference, we present the very low resolution disperser.
The Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) of CHEOPS, the 2nd generation VLT instrument for planet finding, will attain a very low resolution (R=15) in order to search for cold (and warm) planets in stellar neighbourhood. This will allow to exploit wide band integral field spectroscopy to perform differential photometry. The complete description of CHEOPS IFS is given as a separate contribution to this conference; in this paper the analysis and the project of the very low disperser are outlined.
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