Fiber-laser Astro-comb as a Robust Wavelength Calibrator for Astrophysical Spectrographs

光纤激光天文梳作为天体物理光谱仪的稳健波长校准器

• 批准号: 1310981
• 负责人: Ronald Walsworth
• 金额: $ 47.21万
• 依托单位: Harvard University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1310981&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Fiber; laser; Astro; comb; Robust

The first planets around other stars were discovered only within the last few decades, and since then scientists have been surprised by how common such exoplanets are, and by the surprising nature of some of their characteristics. The search for more exoplanets and the drive to gather better statistics to fully understand them (and so the planetary system in which we live) is a vigorous area of modern research. A particularly urgent scientific direction is establishing that an exoplanet is earthlike, which requires measurement of both the radius and the mass of the planet. Radius can be measured by satellite observations when the planet passes in front of the star; mass is measured by extremely precise monitoring of the radial velocity of the central star, since its motions are influenced by the gravitational tug of the planet in proportion to its mass.This project will develop frequency calibrators based on robust, field-compatible new laser technologies that should push radial velocity precision down to below 10 cm/s (for comparison, the recoil velocity of the Sun caused by the earth is about 9 cm/s). These systems are moving toward long-term, continuous operation by standard observatory personnel, without specialized laser experts on-site or any need to make frequent adjustments.The laser-comb development project will train several graduate and undergraduate students in the physics of ultrafast optics and astronomical instrument building and observation. Many of the techniques developed here will find fruitful application in other scientific disciplines, such as molecular spectroscopy.Funding for this project is being provided by NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences through its Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation program.

其他恒星周围的第一批行星仅在过去几十年中才发现，从那时起，科学家就对这种系外行星的普遍性以及其某些特征的令人惊讶的性质感到惊讶。 寻找更多的系外行星和收集更好统计数据以充分理解它们的动力（因此我们所居住的行星系统）是现代研究的一个充满活力的领域。 一个特别紧急的科学方向是，一个外部球星是地球状的，这需要测量行星的半径和质量。 当行星通过恒星前面时，可以通过卫星观测来测量半径； mass is measured by extremely precise monitoring of the radial velocity of the central star, since its motions are influenced by the gravitational tug of the planet in proportion to its mass.This project will develop frequency calibrators based on robust, field-compatible new laser technologies that should push radial velocity precision down to below 10 cm/s (for comparison, the recoil velocity of the Sun caused by the earth is about 9 cm/s）。 这些系统正在朝着标准观测人员的长期运作迈向长期连续的操作，而没有专门的激光专家在现场或进行频繁调整的任何需求。这里开发的许多技术都会在其他科学学科中发现富有成果的应用，例如分子光谱。该项目的资金是由NSF通过其先进的技术和仪器计划提供的。