Phase-shifting technique for improving the imaging capacity of sparse-aperture optical interferometers

Abstract

In this paper, we describe the principle of a multi-aperture interferometer that uses a phase-shifting technique and is suitable for quick, snapshot imaging of astrophysical objects at extreme angular resolution through Fourier inversion. A few advantages of the proposed design are highlighted, among which are radiometric efficiency, Field of View equivalent to those of Fizeau interferometers, and a preliminary calibration procedure allowing characterization of instrumental errors. For large telescope numbers, the proposed design also results in considerable simplification of the optical and mechanical design. Numerical simulations suggest that it should be possible to couple hundreds of telescopes on a single 4K x 4K detector array, using only conventional optical components or emerging technologies.

40 pages and 9 figures

References in corpus (11)

• The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
• Imaging the Surface of Altair
• First Resolved Images of the Eclipsing and Interacting Binary Beta Lyrae
• A hot compact dust disk around a massive young stellar object
• In the Shadow of the Transiting Disk: Imaging epsilon Aurigae in Eclipse
• Pre-maximum spectro-imaging of the Mira star T Lep with AMBER/VLTI
• Multi-spectral piston sensor for co-phasing giant segmented mirrors and multi-aperture interferometric arrays
• Photonic Technologies for a Pupil Remapping Interferometer
• Simple Fourier optics formalism for high angular resolution systems and nulling interferometry
• First experimental demonstration of temporal hypertelescope operation with a laboratory prototype
• PSF and field of view characteristics of imaging and nulling interferometers