Developing arrayed waveguide grating spectrographs for multi-object astronomical spectroscopy

Optics Express
Nick CvetojevicJoss Bland-Hawthorn

Abstract

With the aim of utilizing arrayed waveguide gratings for multi-object spectroscopy in the field of astronomy, we outline several ways in which standard telecommunications grade chips should be modified. In particular, by removing the parabolic-horn taper or multimode interference coupler, and injecting with an optical fiber directly, the resolving power was increased threefold from 2400 ± 200 (spectral resolution of 0.63 ± 0.2 nm) to 7000 ± 700 (0.22 ± 0.02 nm) while attaining a throughput of 77 ± 5%. More importantly, the removal of the taper enabled simultaneous off-axis injection from multiple fibers, significantly increasing the number of spectra that can be obtained at once (i.e. the observing efficiency). Here we report that ~12 fibers can be injected simultaneously within the free spectral range of our device, with a 20% reduction in resolving power for fibers placed at 0.8 mm off-centre.

References

Oct 8, 2005·Optics Letters·S G Leon-SavalM Englund
Feb 4, 2009·Optics Express·Danny NoordegraafJoss Bland-Hawthorn
Jan 1, 1995·Optics Letters·K Okamoto, H Yamada
Apr 15, 2010·Optics Express·D NoordegraafJ Laegsgaard
Jun 1, 1988·Applied Optics·S Shaklan, F Roddier
Jul 1, 2010·Optics Express·Sergio G Leon-SavalJoss Bland-Hawthorn

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Citations

Nov 13, 2013·Optics Express·Christopher H BettersJoss Bland-Hawthorn
Jun 29, 2012·Optics Letters·R R ThomsonJ Bland-Hawthorn
Aug 10, 2017·Optics Express·S C EllisP Tuthill
Aug 10, 2017·Optics Express·Pradip GatkineMario Dagenais
Sep 15, 2015·Optics Express·G DouglassM J Withford
Nov 3, 2017·Optics Express·N BlindS Gousset

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