Tracking faint fringes with the CHARA-Michigan Phasetracker (CHAMP)

John D. Monnier; F. Baron; M. Anderson; S. Kraus; R. Millan-Gabet; E. Pedretti; X. Che; T. ten Brummelaar; N. Calvet

doi:10.1117/12.926399

12 September 2012 Tracking faint fringes with the CHARA-Michigan Phasetracker (CHAMP)

John D. Monnier, F. Baron, M. Anderson, S. Kraus, R. Millan-Gabet, E. Pedretti, X. Che, T. ten Brummelaar, N. Calvet

Proceedings Volume 8445, Optical and Infrared Interferometry III; 84451I (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926399
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

The CHARA-Michigan Phasetracker (CHAMP) successfully tracks fringes in 4-telescope and 6-telescope modes when observing high-visibility targets. We have found that our primary targets (Young Stellar Objects) have unexpectedly low visibility fringes (<20%) for most baselines at CHARA, generally below our tracking thresholds. We have undertaken an upgrade cycle in 2011-2012 to re-optimize CHAMP to allow group-delay tracking on the faintest fringes possible. We describe our multi-pronged strategy using special dicroics, new piezo scanners, and our first attempts to explore CHARA J-band made possible by using special metrology-blocking laser filters. CHAMP can now be used with all the combiners at CHARA.

Citation Download Citation

John D. Monnier, F. Baron, M. Anderson, S. Kraus, R. Millan-Gabet, E. Pedretti, X. Che, T. ten Brummelaar, and N. Calvet "Tracking faint fringes with the CHARA-Michigan Phasetracker (CHAMP)", Proc. SPIE 8445, Optical and Infrared Interferometry III, 84451I (12 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926399

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