CaltechAUTHORS
Published June 28, 2006 | Version Published
Book Section - Chapter Open

Michigan Infrared Combiner (MIRC): commissioning results at the CHARA Array

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
  • 2. ROR icon Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble
  • 3. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 4. ROR icon Georgia State University

Contributors

Abstract

The Michigan Infrared Combiner (MIRC) has been designed for two primary goals: 1) imaging with all six CHARA telescopes simultaneously in the near-infrared, 2) direct detection of "hot Jupiter" exoplanets using precision closure phases. In September 2005, MIRC was commissioned on-sky at the CHARA Array on Mt. Wilson, CA, successfully combining light from 4 telescopes simultaneously. After a brief overview of MIRC features and design philosophy, we provide detailed description of key components and present results of laboratory tests. Lastly, we present first results from the commissioning run, focusing on engineering performance. We also present remarkable on-sky closure phase results from the first night of recorded data with the best-ever demonstrated closure phase stability and precision (ΔΦ = 0.03 degrees).

Additional Information

© 2006 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). We gratefully acknowledge funding from the University of Michigan for construction and commissioning of the MIRC combiner. The design concept is the result of conversations with many interferometrists, and the authors have appreciated their input. We have tried to take advantage of lessons learned in the fabrication and use of recent combiners, in particular from NPOI, COAST, AMBER (VLTI) and FATCAT (Keck Interferometer). We specially thank G. Vasisht and G. Perrin for specific help with regard to IR camera and fiber issues. We also acknowledge the important help of Guangyu Li who helped polish the v-groove array. E. Pedretti acknowledges support from a NASA Michelson Fellowship and N. Thureau was supported by a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship. Thank you to P.J. Goldfinger, Nils Turner, Bob Cadman, Steve Golden and Mandy Paige-Henderson for technical and/or observing support at CHARA during commissioning – we always miss your emails after leaving. Lastly, we acknowledge the State of Georgia, the National Science Foundation, the W.M. Keck Foundation, and the Lucille and David Packard Foundation for funding the construction of the CHARA array; array operations are being supported by Georgia State University and NSF-AST 0307562.

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Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
97146
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20190715-104244475

Funding

University of Michigan
NASA Michelson Fellowship
Marie Curie Fellowship
NSF
AST-0307562
State of Georgia
W. M. Keck Foundation
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Georgia State University

Dates

Created
2019-07-15
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-16
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Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC)
Series Name
Proceedings of SPIE
Series Volume or Issue Number
6268