Jewel masks: non-redundant Fizeau beam combination without the guilt

Adam K. Taras; Grace Piroscia; Peter Tuthill

doi:10.1117/12.3019220

28 August 2024 Jewel masks: non-redundant Fizeau beam combination without the guilt

Adam K. Taras, Grace Piroscia, Peter Tuthill

Proceedings Volume 13095, Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging IX; 130950Z (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3019220
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Abstract

The enduring technique of aperture masking interferometry, now more than 150 years old, is still widely practised today for it opens a window of high angular resolution astronomy that remains difficult to access by any competing technology. However, the requirement to apodise the pupil into a non-redundant array dramatically limits the throughput, typically to 10% or less. This in turn has a dramatic impact on the sensitivity so that only bright classes of science have been targeted. This paper presents “Jewel masks”, a novel technology that leverages the gains in signal fidelity conferred by non-redundant Fizeau beam combination without the sensitivity penalty incurred by traditional aperture masks. Our approach fragments the pupil with a set of phase wedges, producing several sets of sparse-array tilings. After extensive searching, solutions were found where all individual sets are fully non-redundant. Each set is assigned a common phase wedge which diverts that pattern onto a defined region of the sensor. We describe transmissive and reflective implementations, as well as a case study of a VAMPIRES mask with realistic fabrication errors.

Conference Presentation

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

Adam K. Taras, Grace Piroscia, and Peter Tuthill "Jewel masks: non-redundant Fizeau beam combination without the guilt", Proc. SPIE 13095, Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging IX, 130950Z (28 August 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3019220

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