Leiden University Student Repository

Stockmans, Thijs (2018)

Design, construction and verification of an Integral field spectrograph for the SCAR coronagraph

Bachelor thesis | Natuurkunde (BSc)

To make direct detection of planets like Proxima Centauri b possible, a high contrast coronagraph with a low inner-working angle is needed. With that in mind Por et al. designed the SCAR coronagraph. In SCAR the starlight is nulled using a SCAR phase plate and a single mode multicore fiber. In this thesis we describe the process of building a spectrograph for this instrument. After a small trade-off study, we have decided to build a prism spectrograph. Due to the proximity of the fibers, resolution increases in spite of bandwidth. The ultimate design has a resolution of 110 and a bandpass from 525 to 700 nm. The spectrograph was set-up and tested using a laser and a broadband source. The design induces a lot of crosstalk, therefore we used a special extraction method for the spectra described by Bolton and Schlegel. This technique creates a 2D model of the data and extracts accordingly. Finally we have been been able to retrieve spectra using this spectrograph and extraction method....Show moreTo make direct detection of planets like Proxima Centauri b possible, a high contrast coronagraph with a low inner-working angle is needed. With that in mind Por et al. designed the SCAR coronagraph. In SCAR the starlight is nulled using a SCAR phase plate and a single mode multicore fiber. In this thesis we describe the process of building a spectrograph for this instrument. After a small trade-off study, we have decided to build a prism spectrograph. Due to the proximity of the fibers, resolution increases in spite of bandwidth. The ultimate design has a resolution of 110 and a bandpass from 525 to 700 nm. The spectrograph was set-up and tested using a laser and a broadband source. The design induces a lot of crosstalk, therefore we used a special extraction method for the spectra described by Bolton and Schlegel. This technique creates a 2D model of the data and extracts accordingly. Finally we have been been able to retrieve spectra using this spectrograph and extraction method. This is a proof of concept for both the SCAR and the spectrograph behind it.Show less

Spectrography

Coronagraphy

Exoplanets

Single mode fiber

Prism

Author

Stockmans, Thijs

Faculty

Faculty of Science

Supervisors

Christoph, Keller

ECTS Credits

4

Language

en