A stable and inexpensive wavelength reference for precise wavelength calibration of radial velocity spectrographs

Tobias Feger; Michael J. Ireland; Joao Bento; Carlos Bacigalupo

doi:10.1117/12.2055674

5 August 2014 A stable and inexpensive wavelength reference for precise wavelength calibration of radial velocity spectrographs

Tobias Feger, Michael J. Ireland, Joao Bento, Carlos Bacigalupo

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9147, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy V; 914780 (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055674
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2014, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

We present a stable, inexpensive wavelength reference, based on a white-light interferometer for the use on current and future (arrays of) diffraction-limited radial velocity (RV) spectrographs. The primary aim of using an interferometer is to obtain a dense sinusoidal wavelength reference with spectral coverage between 450-650 nm. Its basic setup consists of an unbalanced fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (FMZI) that creates an interference pattern in the spectral domain due to superposition of phase delayed light, set by a fixed optical path-length difference (OPD). To achieve long-term stability, the interferometer is actively locked to a stable atomic line. The system operates in closed-loop using a thermo-optic modulator as the phase feedback component. We conducted stability measurements by superimposing the wavelength reference with thorium-argon (ThAr) emission lines and found the differential RMS shift to be ~5 m s^-1 within 30 minute bins in an experiment lasting 5 hours.

Citation Download Citation

Tobias Feger, Michael J. Ireland, Joao Bento, and Carlos Bacigalupo "A stable and inexpensive wavelength reference for precise wavelength calibration of radial velocity spectrographs", Proc. SPIE 9147, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy V, 914780 (5 August 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055674

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available