Performance of a novel PMMA polymer imaging bundle for field acquisition and wavefront sensing

Abstract

Imaging bundles provide a convenient way to translate a spatially coherent image, yet conventional imaging bundles made from silica fibre optics typically remain expensive with large losses due to poor filling factors (~40%). We present the characterisation of a novel polymer imaging bundle made from poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) that is considerably cheaper and a better alternative to silica imaging bundles over short distances (~1 m; from the middle to the edge of a telescope's focal plane). The large increase in filling factor (92% for the polymer imaging bundle) outweighs the large increase in optical attenuation from using PMMA (1 dB/m) instead of silica (10^{-3} dB/m). We present and discuss current and possible future multi-object applications of the polymer imaging bundle in the context of astronomical instrumentation including: field acquisition, guiding, wavefront sensing, narrow-band imaging, aperture masking, and speckle imaging. The use of PMMA limits its use in low light applications (e.g. imaging of galaxies), however it is possible to fabricate polymer imaging bundles from a range of polymers that are better suited to the desired science.

arXiv comment11 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in PASA

References in corpus (14)

• Stellar Multiplicity
• The Multi-Object, Fiber-Fed Spectrographs for SDSS and the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: instrument specification and target selection
• The Anglo-Australian Observatory's 2dF Facility
• Performance of AAOmega: the AAT multi-purpose fibre-fed spectrograph
• Michelson Interferometry with the Keck I Telescope
• Focal ratio degradation in lightly-fused hexabundles
• A theoretical look at the direct detection of giant planets outside the Solar System
• High Sensitivity Wavefront Sensing with a non-linear Curvature Wavefront Sensor
• Analysis of on-sky MOAO performance of CANARY using natural guide stars
• Starbugs: all-singing, all-dancing fibre positioning robots
• The FALCON concept: multi-object spectroscopy combined with MCAO in near-IR
• Miniaturized Shack-Hartmann Wavefront-Sensors for Starbugs
• Advances in infrared and imaging fibres for astronomical instrumentation

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Astrophotonics: molding the flow of light in astronomical instruments
• Astronomical Applications of Multi-Core Fiber Technology
• Optimal SMF packing in photonic lanterns: comparing theoretical topology to practical packing arrangements
• Accuracy of Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor using a coherent wound fibre image bundle