Higher Precision In Radial Velocity Measurement By Laser Frequency Combs

Details Higher Precision In Radial Velocity Measurement By Laser Frequency Combs Higher Precision In Radial Velocity Measurement By Laser Frequency Combs

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21360101l&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #601.01

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

2

Scientific paper

Spectroscopy is a crucial tool of the defining fields of 21st century astrophysics - cosmology and the search for extrasolar planets. Searches for extrasolar planets using the periodic Doppler shift of stellar spectral lines resulting from the motion of the host star around the barycenter of an exo-solar system, have recently achieved a precision of 60 cm s-1, which is sufficient to find a 5-Earth-mass planet in a Mercury-like orbit around a Sun-like star. To find a 1-Earth mass planet in an Earth-like orbit, a precision of 5 cm s-1 is necessary. The current precision of the astrophysical spectrograph is limited by the lack of an adequate wavelength calibration source.
The combination of a laser frequency comb with a Fabry-Pérot filtering cavity has been suggested as a promising approach to improve the sensitivity. We report the fabrication and tests of a filtered laser comb with up to 40-GHz ( 1 Å ) line spacing, generated from a 1-GHz repetition-rate source, without compromise on long-term stability or reproducibility. This wide-line spacing comb, or "astro-comb", is well matched to the resolving power of high-resolution astrophysical spectrographs. The application of the astro-comb to astrophysics should allow a precision as high as 1 cm s-1 in astronomical radial velocity measurements
In 2008, an astro-comb has been deployed at the Whipple Observatory to calibrate the TRES spectrograph, with >1,000 unltra-stable emission lines in the range of 8,000 - 9,000 Å. Preliminary data analysis indicates that the astro-comb is capable of improving the precision of the TRES. By enabling improved Doppler velocity-shift precision with broad wavelength coverage and reproducibility over many years and between telescopes, astro-combs should revolutionize astrophysical spectroscopy.

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