Development of a New, Precise Near-infrared Doppler Wavelength Reference: A Fiber Fabry-Perot Interferometer

Published

January 31, 2013

Author(s)

Samuel Halverson, Suvrath Mahadevan, Lawrence W. Ramsey, Stephen L. Redman, Gillian Nave, John C. Wilson , Fred Hearty, Jon Holtzman

Abstract

We present the ongoing development of a commercially available Micron Optics ber-Fabry Perot Interferometer as a precise, stable, easy to use, and economic spectrograph reference with the goal of achieving 1 m s..1 long term stability. Fiber Fabry-Perot interferometers (FFP) create interference patterns by combining light traversing di erent delay paths. The interference creates a rich spectrum of narrow emission lines, ideal for use as a precise Doppler reference. This fully photonic reference could easily be installed in existing NIR spectrographs, turning high resolution ber-fed spectrographs into precise Doppler velocimeters. First light results on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE)spectrograph and several tests of major support instruments are also presented. These instruments include a SuperK Photonics ber supercontinuum laser source and precise temperature controller. A high resolution spectrum obtained using the NIST 2-m Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) is also presented. We nd our current temperature control precision of the FFP to be 0.15 mK, corresponding to a theoretical velocity stability of 35 cm s..1 due to temperature variations alone.

Proceedings Title

Proceedings of SPIE

Volume

8446

Conference Dates

July 1-6, 2012

Conference Location

Amsterdam, NL

Conference Title

SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

near-infrared spectrograph design, wavelength references, exoplanets, radial velocity surveys

Citation

Halverson, S. , Mahadevan, S. , Ramsey, L. , Redman, S. , Nave, G. , Wilson, J. , Hearty, F. and Holtzman, J. (2013), Development of a New, Precise Near-infrared Doppler Wavelength Reference: A Fiber Fabry-Perot Interferometer, Proceedings of SPIE, Amsterdam, NL, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=911706 (Accessed October 17, 2025)