The Infrared Doppler (IRD) instrument is a fiber-fed high-resolution NIR spectrometer for the Subaru telescope covering the Y,J,H-bands simultaneously with a maximum spectral resolution of 70,000. The main purpose of IRD is a search for Earth-mass planets around nearby M-dwarfs by precise radial velocity measurements, as well as a spectroscopic characterization of exoplanet atmospheres. We report the current status of the instrument, which is undergoing commissioning at the Subaru Telescope, and the first light observation successfully done in August 2017. The general description of the instrument will be given including spectrometer optics, fiber injection system, cryogenic system, scrambler, and laser frequency comb. A large strategic survey mainly focused on late-type M-dwarfs is planned to start from 2019.
In order to detect Earth-like planets around nearby red dwarfs (in particular late-M stars), it is crucial to conduct precise radial velocity measurements at near-infrared wavelengths where these stars emit most of the light. We have been developing the Infrared Doppler (IRD) spectrograph which is a high dispersion spectrograph for the Subaru telescope. To achieve 1m/s RV measurement precision, we have developed a direct generation of laser frequency comb (LFC) that uses high-repetition-rate pump pulse synthesized by a line-by-line pulse-shaping technique. Our LFC generator has some advantages including simple and easy frequency stabilization, all fiber-optic configuration, and broadband calibration by the precise frequency shift of all modes in the LFC. We have successfully generated a 12.5-GHz-spaced comb spanning over 700 nm from 1040 to 1750 nm. The frequency stability was measured by optically heterodyning the comb with an acetylene-stabilized laser at 1542 nm as a reference light. The LFC showed a frequency stability of less than 0.2 MHz and an almost constant spectrum profile for 6 days. The original LFC that has just produced from highly nonlinear fibers needs some optical processing including spectrum shaping, depolarization, and a mode scramble in a multi-mode fiber before it is input into a spectrograph for the calibration. We have investigated the optical processing of the LFC which is necessary for the precise spectrograph calibration. Keywords: laser frequency comb, infrared, spectrograph, Doppler shift
We report the current status of the Infrared Doppler (IRD) instrument for the Subaru telescope, which aims at detecting
Earth-like planets around nearby M darwfs via the radial velocity (RV) measurements. IRD is a fiber-fed, near infrared
spectrometer which enables us to obtain high-resolution spectrum (R~70000) from 0.97 to 1.75 μm. We have been
developing new technologies to achieve 1m/s RV measurement precision, including an original laser frequency comb as
an extremely stable wavelength standard in the near infrared. To achieve ultimate thermal stability, very low thermal
expansion ceramic is used for most of the optical components including the optical bench.
One of the problems for direct observation of extrasolar planets is the speckle noise due to a wave-front error.
Therefore, high-accuracy adaptive optics is required for realizing a wavefront quality of λ/10000 rms. An unbalanced
nulling interferometer has a possibility to assist high-accuracy correction. In this paper, we propose the interferometer
with a four-quadrant phase mask in which an optical path is common. By using the mask, we succeed in stabilizing the
interference and taking measurements of wavefront errors with 10-times higher sensitivity. In this way, we expect to
construct high-accuracy adaptive optics which is more stable.
M. Tamura, H. Suto, J. Nishikawa, T. Kotani, B. Sato, W. Aoki, T. Usuda, T. Kurokawa, K. Kashiwagi, S. Nishiyama, Y. Ikeda, D. Hall, K. Hodapp, J. Hashimoto, J. Morino, S. Inoue, Y. Mizuno, Y. Washizaki, Y. Tanaka, S. Suzuki, J. Kwon, T. Suenaga, D. Oh, N. Narita, E. Kokubo, Y. Hayano, H. Izumiura, E. Kambe, T. Kudo, N. Kusakabe, M. Ikoma, Ya. Hori, M. Omiya, H. Genda, A. Fukui, Y. Fujii, O. Guyon, H. Harakawa, M. Hayashi, M. Hidai, T. Hirano, M. Kuzuhara, M. Machida, T. Matsuo, T. Nagata, H. Ohnuki, M. Ogihara, S. Oshino, R. Suzuki, H. Takami, N. Takato, Y. Takahashi, C. Tachinami, H. Terada
IRD is the near-infrared high-precision radial velocity instrument for the Subaru 8.2-m telescope. It is a relatively compact (~1m size) spectrometer with a new echelle-grating and Volume-Phase Holographic gratings covering 1-2 micron wavelengths combined with an original frequency comb using optical pulse synthesizer. The spectrometer will employ a 4096x4096-pixel HgCdTe array under testing at IfA, University of Hawaii. Both the telescope/Adaptive Optics and comb beams are fed to the spectrometer via optical fibers, while the instrument is placed at the Nasmyth platform of the Subaru telescope. Expected accuracy of the Doppler-shifted velocity measurements is about 1 m s-1. Helped with the large collecting area and high image quality of the Subaru telescope, IRD can conduct systematic radial velocity surveys of nearby middle-to-late M stars aiming for down to one Earth-mass planet. Systematic observational and theoretical studies of M stars and their planets for the IRD science are also ongoing. We will report the design and preliminary development progresses of the whole and each component of IRD.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been intensively studied for optical applications because of their useful characteristics.
However, handling of the CNTs is one of the largest problems for device applications. Several methods have been
reported to fabricate optical devices, such as spray method, direct synthesis method, and polymer embedding method.
These methods require complicated process and dissipate excessive amount of CNTs. Therefore, an easy and cost
effective handling technique of CNTs is required. In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a novel technique to deposit
CNTs onto only the core region of end facets of optical fibers. We successfully realized area selective deposition using
optical tweezers. This technique requires a very simple setup and consumes only a small amount of CNTs. We confirmed
presence of CNTs at the selected region by microscopic Raman spectroscopy. As an optical device application, we
inserted the CNT deposited fiber into the fiber ring laser cavity as a saturable absorber, and realized passive modelocking.
This technique will allow us to realize low-cost CNT-based photonic devices.
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