Optomechanical design of PAWS, the Potsdam arrayed waveguide spectrograph

Hernandez, Eloy; Stoll, Andreas; Bauer, Svend‐Marian; Berdja, A.; Bernardi, Rafael L; Egaña, José Tomás; Günther, Alan; Madhav, Kalaga; Roth, Martin; Sandín, C.; Villanueva, Constanza

doi:10.1117/12.2562174

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…In view of the saving of volume and mass in comparison to bulk optics spectrographs, they are particularly promising for airborne and space applications. The anastigmatic spectroscopic AWG devices will be tested on-sky in the PAWS spectrograph [12] in the near future, supplanting the first generation of Rowland-type AWG designs presented in paper I.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Working field-flattened devices using three stigmatic points have been demonstrated on polymer and SOI platforms [10,11]. This work is the second paper in a series covering the design of integrated diffractive elements for the "Potsdam Arrayed Waveguide Spectrograph" (PAWS) [12], a semi-integrated photonic spectrograph using various AWG designs as well as photonic echelle gratings (PEGs) with a modified focal plane using two stigmatic points.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Design, simulation and characterization of integrated photonic spectrographs for Astronomy II: Low-aberration Generation-II AWG devices with three stigmatic points

Stoll,

Madhav,

Roth

2021

Preprint

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In the second part of our series on integrated photonic spectrographs for astronomy, we present theoretical and experimental results on the design, simulation and characterization of custom-manufactured silica-on-silicon Arrayed Waveguide Gratings (AWGs) constructed using the three-stigmatic-point method. We derive several mid-to-high resolution field-flattened AWG designs, targeting resolving powers of 11,000 -35,000 in the astronomical H-band, by iterative computation of differential coefficients of the optical path function. We use numerical simulations to study the imaging properties of the designs in a wide wavelength range between 1500 nm and 1680 nm. We theoretically discuss the design-specific degradation of spectral resolving power at far-off-centre wavelengths and suggest possible solutions. In the experimental section, we provide characterization results of seven manufactured AWG devices of varying free spectral range and resolution. We obtain estimates on spectral resolving powers of up to 27,600 for polarized input at 1550 nm from measurements of the channel transmission bandwidth. Furthermore, we numerically predict expected resolving powers of up to 36,000 in polarized mode and up to 24,000 in unpolarized mode for direct continuous imaging of the spectrum.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design, simulation and characterization of integrated photonic spectrographs for Astronomy II: Low-aberration Generation-II AWG devices with three stigmatic points

Stoll,

Madhav,

Roth

2021

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…These three outlined challenges are essential for future high-performance AWG-based astronomical instruments. The Potsdam Arrayed Waveguide Spectrograph (PAWS), a full cross-dispersion AWG spectrograph demonstrator with Teledyne H2RG detector is currently being developed in Potsdam to test the first generation of AWGs as well as future devices on sky [13]. The system will encompass a cryostat in order to minimize thermal radiation in the wavelength range of operation as well as the dark current of the image detector, which is essential for long-exposure observations under photon-starved conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design, simulation and characterization of integrated photonic spectrographs for Astronomy I: Generation-I AWG devices based on canonical layouts

Stoll,

Madhav,

Roth

2021

Preprint

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We present an experimental study on our first generation of custom-developed arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG) on silica platform for spectroscopic applications in near-infrared astronomy. We provide a comprehensive description of the design, numerical simulation and characterization of several AWG devices aimed at spectral resolving powers of 15,000 -60,000 in the astronomical H-band. We evaluate the spectral characteristics of the fabricated devices in terms of insertion loss and estimated spectral resolving power and compare the results with numerical simulations. We estimate resolving powers of up to 18,900 from the output channel 3-dB transmission bandwidth. Based on the first characterization results, we select two candidate AWGs for further processing by removal of the output waveguide array and polishing the output facet to optical quality with the goal of integration as the primary diffractive element in a cross-dispersed spectrograph. We further study the imaging properties of the processed AWGs with regards to spectral resolution in direct imaging mode, geometry-related defocus aberration, and polarization sensitivity of the spectral image. We identify phase error control, birefringence control, and aberration suppression as the three key areas of future research and development in the field of high-resolution AWG-based spectroscopy in astronomy.

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“…A crucial step to enable progress for any new technology in astronomical instrumenation is the need to validate the performance with an on-sky experiment that can be used to demonstrate technology readiness levels TRL 6 and TRL 7. To this end, innoFSPEC has designed and built an instrument, the Potsdam Arrayed Waveguide Spectrograph (PAWS) [33,34]. Fig.…”

Section: Paws the Potsdam Arrayed Waveguide Spectrographmentioning

confidence: 99%

Astrophotonics: photonic integrated circuits for astronomical instrumentation

Roth

Madhav

Stoll

et al. 2023

Integrated Optics: Devices, Materials, and Technologies XXVII

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Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC) are best known for their important role in the telecommunication sector, e.g. high speed communication devices in data centers. However, PIC also hold the promise for innovation in sectors like life science, medicine, sensing, automotive etc. The past two decades have seen efforts of utilizing PIC to enhance the performance of instrumentation for astronomical telescopes, perhaps the most spectacular example being the integrated optics beam combiner for the interferometer GRAVITY at the ESO Very Large Telescope. This instrument has enabled observations of the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way at unprecedented angular resolution, eventually leading to the Nobel Price for Physics in 2020. Several groups worldwide are actively engaged in the emerging field of astrophotonics research, amongst them the innoFSPEC Center in Potsdam, Germany. We present results for a number of applications developed at innoFSPEC, notably PIC for integrated photonic spectrographs on the basis of arrayed waveguide gratings and the PAWS demonstrator (Potsdam Arrayed Waveguide Spectrograph), PIC-based ring resonators in astronomical frequency combs for precision wavelength calibration, discrete beam combiners (DBC) for large astronomical interferometers, as well as aperiodic fiber Bragg gratings for complex astronomical filters and their possible derivatives in PIC.

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Optomechanical design of PAWS, the Potsdam arrayed waveguide spectrograph

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Design, simulation and characterization of integrated photonic spectrographs for Astronomy II: Low-aberration Generation-II AWG devices with three stigmatic points

Design, simulation and characterization of integrated photonic spectrographs for Astronomy II: Low-aberration Generation-II AWG devices with three stigmatic points

Design, simulation and characterization of integrated photonic spectrographs for Astronomy I: Generation-I AWG devices based on canonical layouts

Astrophotonics: photonic integrated circuits for astronomical instrumentation

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