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Demonstrating the integration of a photonic lantern with an all-fiber-based nulling interferometer
Authors:
Jordan Diaz,
Rebecca Jensen-Clem,
Philip M. Hinz,
Daren Dillon,
Pradip Gatkine,
Aditya R. Sengupta,
Dan Sirbu,
Sarah Tedder,
Kevin Bundy,
Brian Vyhnalek,
Steph Sallum,
Matthew C. DeMartino,
Stephen Eikenberry,
Peter Delfyett,
Rodrigo Amezcua-Correa
Abstract:
High-contrast imaging of Solar System scale exoplanets and protoplanets demands advancements in instrumentation to access deeper starlight suppression at smaller angular separations than today's state-of-the-art. The multi-mode to single-mode conversion capabilities of photonic lanterns (PLs) provide new avenues to implement techniques such as nulling interferometry due to the inherent spatial fil…
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High-contrast imaging of Solar System scale exoplanets and protoplanets demands advancements in instrumentation to access deeper starlight suppression at smaller angular separations than today's state-of-the-art. The multi-mode to single-mode conversion capabilities of photonic lanterns (PLs) provide new avenues to implement techniques such as nulling interferometry due to the inherent spatial filtering of single-mode waveguides. In this work, we present laboratory results on an all-fiber-based focal plane nulling interferometer using off-the-shelf components operating at 1550 nm. We demonstrate the implementation of a PL for coupling light into the instrument, and compare it to the case when laser light is directly fed into the interferometer. The integration of a PL with the interferometer evidences their potential for feeding photonic-based science instruments. Additionally, we discuss expanding the concept of the instrument for the detection of accreting protoplanets.
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Submitted 27 July, 2026;
originally announced July 2026.
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Experimentally-determined performance limits for joint imaging and wavefront sensing with a photonic lantern
Authors:
Aditya R. Sengupta,
Vincent Chambouleyron,
Rebecca Jensen-Clem,
Emiel Por,
Benjamin L. Gerard,
Jordan Diaz,
Zoe Weber-Porter,
Yoo Jung Kim,
Steph Sallum,
Matthew DeMartino,
Daren Dillon,
Kevin Bundy,
Anna K. Gagnebin,
Philip Hinz,
Caleb Dobias,
Tara Crowe,
Stephen S. Eikenberry,
Rodrigo Amezcua-Correa,
Stephanos Yerolatsitis
Abstract:
The photonic lantern (PL) is a focal-plane wavefront sensor (WFS) that can be used for second-stage control of extreme adaptive optics (AO) systems. While the number of sensed modes and the dynamic range with respect to each mode have been relatively well characterized, little attention has been paid to the PL's sensitivity, i.e. how measurement noise impacts the accuracy of PL wavefront reconstru…
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The photonic lantern (PL) is a focal-plane wavefront sensor (WFS) that can be used for second-stage control of extreme adaptive optics (AO) systems. While the number of sensed modes and the dynamic range with respect to each mode have been relatively well characterized, little attention has been paid to the PL's sensitivity, i.e. how measurement noise impacts the accuracy of PL wavefront reconstruction. We compute the PL's sensitivity to photon noise as a function of spatial frequency, and compare it to existing WFSs, using simulations as well as experiments on the muirSEAL testbed. We further assess these metrics in the case where only a subset of PL ports are available for wavefront sensing. In this configuration, the remaining ports are used to spatially and spectrally reconstruct the observed scene using algorithms such as SPADE. Using more ports for wavefront sensing enables greater aberration sensitivity but leaves less spatial information for image reconstruction. This allows us to trade off between fewer samples with smaller aberrations and more samples with larger aberrations. This work sets the stage for AO system design incorporating the PL as a joint WFS and imager.
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Submitted 25 June, 2026;
originally announced June 2026.
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Developing a Wyne Corrector for higher spectral bandwidth focal plane wavefront sensing
Authors:
Dominic F. Sanchez,
Benjamin L. Gerard,
Bautista R. Fernandez,
Brian Bauman,
Philip M. Hinz
Abstract:
Focal plane wavefront sensing techniques are generally limited to using imaging systems that have below 1% spectral bandwidths, due to the radial smearing of speckles from chromatic diffraction that causes optical image magnification over larger spectral bandwidths. Wyne (1979) designed a pair of triplet lenses to optically minimize this chromatic magnification and increase the spectral bandwidth.…
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Focal plane wavefront sensing techniques are generally limited to using imaging systems that have below 1% spectral bandwidths, due to the radial smearing of speckles from chromatic diffraction that causes optical image magnification over larger spectral bandwidths. Wyne (1979) designed a pair of triplet lenses to optically minimize this chromatic magnification and increase the spectral bandwidth. Such a Wyne corrector could enable focal plane wavefront sensing at up to 50% spectral bandwidths and as a result open enable $>50x$ higher-speed focal plane wavefront sensing. We present results of the design and laboratory testing of a Wyne corrector prototype, including a detailed tolerancing analysis considering manufactural wavelength ranges and alignment tolerances. These tests show promising results that this technology can be deployed to current and future high speed focal plane wavefront sensing instruments to enable significant performance enhancements. This document number is LLNL-ABS-857246.
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Submitted 17 July, 2024;
originally announced July 2024.
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Evaluating the GeoSnap 13-$μ$m Cut-Off HgCdTe Detector for mid-IR ground-based astronomy
Authors:
Jarron M. Leisenring,
Dani Atkinson,
Rory Bowens,
Vincent Douence,
William F. Hoffmann,
Michael R. Meyer,
John Auyeung,
James Beletic,
Mario S. Cabrera,
Alexandra Z. Greenbaum,
Phil Hinz,
Derek Ives,
William J. Forrest,
Craig W. McMurtry,
Judith L. Pipher,
Eric Viges
Abstract:
New mid-infrared HgCdTe (MCT) detector arrays developed in collaboration with Teledyne Imaging Sensors (TIS) have paved the way for improved 10-$μ$m sensors for space- and ground-based observatories. Building on the successful development of longwave HAWAII-2RGs for space missions such as NEO Surveyor, we characterize the first 13-$μ$m GeoSnap detector manufactured to overcome the challenges of hi…
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New mid-infrared HgCdTe (MCT) detector arrays developed in collaboration with Teledyne Imaging Sensors (TIS) have paved the way for improved 10-$μ$m sensors for space- and ground-based observatories. Building on the successful development of longwave HAWAII-2RGs for space missions such as NEO Surveyor, we characterize the first 13-$μ$m GeoSnap detector manufactured to overcome the challenges of high background rates inherent in ground-based mid-IR astronomy. This test device merges the longwave HgCdTe photosensitive material with Teledyne's 2048x2048 GeoSnap-18 (18-$μ$m pixel) focal plane module, which is equipped with a capacitive transimpedance amplifier (CTIA) readout circuit paired with an onboard 14-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The final assembly yields a mid-IR detector with high QE, fast readout (>85 Hz), large well depth (>1.2 million electrons), and linear readout.
Longwave GeoSnap arrays would ideally be deployed on existing ground-based telescopes as well as the next generation of extremely large telescopes. While employing advanced adaptive optics (AO) along with state-of-the-art diffraction suppression techniques, instruments utilizing these detectors could attain background- and diffraction-limited imaging at inner working angles <10 $λ/D$, providing improved contrast-limited performance compared to JWST MIRI while operating at comparable wavelengths. We describe the performance characteristics of the 13-$μ$m GeoSnap array operating between 38 and 45K, including quantum efficiency, well depth, linearity, gain, dark current, and frequency-dependent (1/f) noise profile.
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Submitted 17 July, 2023; v1 submitted 8 June, 2023;
originally announced June 2023.
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Design and development of a high-speed Visible Pyramid Wavefront Sensor for the MMT AO system
Authors:
Narsireddy Anugu,
Olivier Durney,
Katie M. Morzinski,
Phil Hinz,
Suresh Sivanandam,
Jared Males,
Andrew Gardner,
Chuck Fellows,
Manny Montoya,
Grant West,
Amali Vaz,
Emily Mailhot,
Jared Carlson,
Shaojie Chen,
Masen Lamb,
Adam Butko,
Elwood Downey,
Jacob Tylor,
Buell Jannuzi
Abstract:
MAPS, MMT Adaptive optics exoPlanet characterization System, is the upgrade of legacy 6.5m MMT adaptive optics system. It is an NSF MSIP-funded project that includes (i) refurbishing of the MMT Adaptive Secondary Mirror (ASM), (ii) new high sensitive and high spatial order visible and near-infrared pyramid wavefront sensors, and (iii) the upgrade of Arizona Infrared Imager and Echelle Spectrograph…
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MAPS, MMT Adaptive optics exoPlanet characterization System, is the upgrade of legacy 6.5m MMT adaptive optics system. It is an NSF MSIP-funded project that includes (i) refurbishing of the MMT Adaptive Secondary Mirror (ASM), (ii) new high sensitive and high spatial order visible and near-infrared pyramid wavefront sensors, and (iii) the upgrade of Arizona Infrared Imager and Echelle Spectrograph (ARIES) and MMT high Precision Imaging Polarimeter (MMTPol) science cameras. This paper will present the design and development of the visible pyramid wavefront sensor. This system consists of an acquisition camera, a fast-steering tip-tilt modulation mirror, a double pyramid, a pupil imaging triplet lens, and a low noise and high-speed frame rate based CCID75 camera. We will report on hardware and software and present the laboratory characterization results of the individual subsystems, and outline the on-sky commissioning plan.
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Submitted 22 December, 2020; v1 submitted 21 December, 2020;
originally announced December 2020.