Astrophotonic spectroscopy: defining the potential advantage

Allington-Smith, Jeremy; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.16173.x

Astrophotonic spectroscopy: defining the potential advantage

Allington-Smith, Jeremy; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss

Authors

Jeremy Allington-Smith

Joss Bland-Hawthorn

Abstract

A photonic spectrograph can be much smaller than a conventional spectrograph with the same resolving power. Individual devices can be integrated with optical fibres to improve the multiplex gain in astronomical spectroscopy. Although experimental devices have been tested, the parameter space where integrated photonic spectrographs offer significant advantage over traditional methods has not been defined. This paper gives an overview of the theory with verification by direct simulation using Fresnel propagation and quantifies the benefit for representative spectroscopic capabilities. We thereby confirm the advantage of photonic spectrographs, especially to the next generation of extremely large telescopes, and conclude that these devices may be important for the future development of astronomical instrumentation.

Citation

Allington-Smith, J., & Bland-Hawthorn, J. (2010). Astrophotonic spectroscopy: defining the potential advantage. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 404(1), 232-238. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.16173.x

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	May 1, 2010
Deposit Date	Nov 10, 2011
Publicly Available Date	Jan 4, 2013
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN	0035-8711
Electronic ISSN	1365-2966
Publisher	Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	404
Issue	1
Pages	232-238
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.16173.x
Keywords	Instrumentation, Spectrographs, Spectroscopic.