Starlight coupling through atmospheric turbulence into few-mode fibers and photonic lanterns in the presence of partial adaptive optics correction [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2011.13423


Starlight corrupted by atmospheric turbulence cannot couple efficiently into astronomical instruments based on integrated optics as they require light of high spatial coherence to couple into their single-mode waveguides. Low-order adaptive optics in combination with photonic lanterns offer a practical approach to achieve efficient coupling into multiplexed astrophotonic devices. We investigate, aided by simulations and an experimental testbed, the trade-off between the degrees of freedom of the adaptive optics system and those of the input waveguide of an integrated optic component leading to a cost-effective hybrid system that achieves a signal-to-noise ratio higher than a standalone device fed by a single-mode fiber.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Diab, A. Dinkelaker, J. Davenport, et. al.
Mon, 30 Nov 20
12/117

Comments: 12 pages, 10 figures