Optimal non-circular fiber geometries for image scrambling in high-resolution spectrographs

Abstract

Optical fibers are a key component for high-resolution spectrographs to attain high precision in radial velocity measurements. We present a custom fiber with a novel core geometry - a 'D'-shape. From a theoretical standpoint, such a fiber should provide superior scrambling and modal noise mitigation, since unlike the commonly used circular and polygonal fiber cross sections, it shows chaotic scrambling. We report on the fabrication process of a test fiber and compare the optical properties, scrambling performance, and modal noise behavior of the D-fiber with those of common polygonal fibers.

arXiv comment7 pages, 6 figures, submitted to SPIE Astronomical Telescopes & Instrumentation 2016 (9912-192)

References in corpus (2)

• The Habitable-Zone Planet Finder: A Stabilized Fiber-Fed NIR Spectrograph for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope
• Classical and quantum chaos in a circular billiard with a straight cut

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• Astrophotonics: molding the flow of light in astronomical instruments
• Modal Noise Mitigation through Fiber Agitation for Fiber-fed Radial Velocity Spectrographs
• A Full Implementation of Spectro-Perfectionism for Precise Radial Velocity Exoplanet Detection: A Test Case With the MINERVA Reduction Pipeline