Open Access
14 May 2024 Laser frequency comb system for the infrared Doppler instrument on the Subaru Telescope
Takuma Serizawa, Takashi Kurokawa, Yosuke Tanaka, Jun Nishikawa, Takayuki Kotani, Motohide Tamura
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Abstract

An exoplanet survey with a near-infrared Doppler (IRD) instrument focused on mid-to-late M-type dwarfs began in February 2019 within the framework of the Subaru Strategic Program. Because mid-to-late M-type dwarfs are brighter in the infrared region than in the visible region, a laser frequency comb (LFC) system was developed as a wavelength reference, covering the near-infrared region from 970 to 1750 nm. To stabilize the comb image on the spectrometer, the original 12.5 GHz comb generated using highly nonlinear fibers was injected into the spectrometer after optical processing, including spectral shaping, depolarization, and mode scrambling. An inline fiber module was introduced to enable any optical system configuration for the optical processor. This fiber-optic configuration in the LFC system allows for long-term stability and easy repair. Moreover, simple remote control of the LFC system using an interactive program enabled LFC generation in approximately 5 min, excluding warm-up time. The observations using the IRD instrument over 4 years have proven that our LFC system is practical and stable. The LFC system operated stably without major problems during this period, helping to maintain a high radial velocity accuracy.

CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.
Takuma Serizawa, Takashi Kurokawa, Yosuke Tanaka, Jun Nishikawa, Takayuki Kotani, and Motohide Tamura "Laser frequency comb system for the infrared Doppler instrument on the Subaru Telescope," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 10(2), 025006 (14 May 2024). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.10.2.025006
Received: 30 November 2023; Accepted: 26 April 2024; Published: 14 May 2024
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KEYWORDS
Equipment

Laser frequency

Spectroscopy

Single mode fibers

Doppler effect

Infrared imaging

Infrared radiation

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