1. DARKNESS: A Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector Integral Field Spectrograph for High-contrast Astronomy
- Author
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Seth R. Meeker, Gustavo Cancelo, Eugene Serabyn, Isabel Lipartito, Michael Bottom, Gautam Vasisht, Paul Szypryt, Neal Wilcer, G. Ulbricht, Giulia Collura, Ted Zmuda, Benjamin A. Mazin, Rupert Dodkins, Gregoire Coiffard, Julian C. van Eyken, Bruce Bumble, Dimitri Mawet, Alex B. Walter, J. Chris Shelton, Paschal Strader, Nicholas Zobrist, Neelay Fruitwala, Clint Bockstiegel, and Ken Treptow
- Subjects
FOS: Physical sciences ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,7. Clean energy ,01 natural sciences ,law.invention ,010309 optics ,Speckle pattern ,Integral field spectrograph ,law ,Observatory ,0103 physical sciences ,Adaptive optics ,Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Coronagraph ,Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) ,Physics ,Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,Astronomy ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Frame rate ,Photon counting ,Space and Planetary Science ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,Microwave ,Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics - Abstract
We present DARKNESS (the DARK-speckle Near-infrared Energy-resolving Superconducting Spectrophotometer), the first of several planned integral field spectrographs to use optical/near-infrared Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) for high-contrast imaging. The photon counting and simultaneous low-resolution spectroscopy provided by MKIDs will enable real-time speckle control techniques and post-processing speckle suppression at framerates capable of resolving the atmospheric speckles that currently limit high-contrast imaging from the ground. DARKNESS is now operational behind the PALM-3000 extreme adaptive optics system and the Stellar Double Coronagraph at Palomar Observatory. Here we describe the motivation, design, and characterization of the instrument, early on-sky results, and future prospects., Comment: 17 pages, 17 figures. PASP Published
- Published
- 2018