Davide Loreggia

Chromaticity in all-reflective telescopes for astrometry

Aims. Chromatic effects are usually associated with refractive optics, so reflective telescopes are assumed to be free from them. We show that all-reflective optics still bears significant levels of such perturbations, which are especially critical to modern micro-arcsecond astrometric experiments. Methods. We analyze the image formation and measurement process to derive a precise definition of the chromatic variation of the image position, and we evaluate the key aspects of optical design with respect to chromaticity. Results. The fundamental requirement related to chromaticity is the symmetry of the optical design and of the wavefront errors. Finally, we address some optical engineering issues, such as manufacturing and alignment, providing recommendations to minimize the degradation that chromaticity introduces into astrometry.

Design status of ASPIICS, an externally occulted coronagraph for PROBA-3

The “sonic region” of the Sun corona remains extremely difficult to observe with spatial resolution and sensitivity sufficient to understand the fine scale phenomena that govern the quiescent solar corona, as well as phenomena that lead to coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which influence space weather. Improvement on this front requires eclipse-like conditions over long observation times. The space-borne coronagraphs flown so far provided a continuous coverage of the external parts of the corona but their over-occulting system did not permit to analyse the part of the white-light corona where the main coronal mass is concentrated. The proposed PROBA-3 Coronagraph System, also known as ASPIICS (Association of Spacecraft for Polarimetric and Imaging Investigation of the Corona of the Sun), with its novel design, will be the first space coronagraph to cover the range of radial distances between ~1.08 and 3 solar radii where the magnetic field plays a crucial role in the coronal dynamics, thus providing continuous observational conditions very close to those during a total solar eclipse. PROBA-3 is first a mission devoted to the in-orbit demonstration of precise formation flying techniques and technologies for future European missions, which will fly ASPIICS as primary payload. The instrument is distributed over two satellites flying in formation (approx. 150m apart) to form a giant coronagraph capable of producing a nearly perfect eclipse allowing observing the sun corona closer to the rim than ever before. The coronagraph instrument is developed by a large European consortium including about 20 partners from 7 countries under the auspices of the European Space Agency. This paper is reviewing the recent improvements and design updates of the ASPIICS instrument as it is stepping into the detailed design phase.

Fizeau interferometer for global astrometry in space

We discuss the design and the performance of a Fizeau interferometer with a long focal length and a large field of view that is well suited for a global astrometry space mission. Our work focuses on the geometric optimization and minimization of aberration of such an astrometric interferometer, which is able to observe astronomical targets down to the visual magnitude (mag) mv = 20 mag, with an accuracy in the measurements of 10 micro-arcseconds at mv = 15 mag. We assume a mission profile similar to that of the Global Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophysics mission of the European Space Agency. In this framework, data acquisition is performed by an array of CCDs working in time-delay integration mode. Optical aberrations, particularly distortion and coma, play a crucial role in the efficiency of this technique. We present a design solution that meets the requirements for the best possible exploitation of the time-delay integration mode over a field of view of 0.7 degrees x 0.7 degrees.

Improved stray light suppression performance for the solar orbiter/METIS inverted external occulter

The Solar Orbiter/METIS visible and UV coronagraph introduces the concept of occulter inversion in solar coronagraphy. Classical externally occulted coronagraphs usually have a disk in front of the telescope entrance pupil. According to the mission requirements, in order to reduce the amount of power entering the instrument and to limit the instrument dimensions, METIS is equipped with an inverted external occulter (IEO). The IEO consists of a circular aperture on the Solar Orbiter thermal shield that acts as coronagraph entrance pupil. A spherical mirror (M0), located ~800 mm behind the IEO, rejects back the disk-light through the IEO itself. A light-tight boom connects the IEO to the M0 through the thermal shield. In order to achieve high performance in stray light suppression, the IEO design needs optimization. Due to the novelty of the concept we can only use the heritage of past space-borne coronagraph occulters as a starting point to design a dedicated occulter optimization shape. A 1.5 years long, accurate test campaign has been carried out to evaluate the best optimization configuration for the IEO. Two prototypes were manufactured to take into account the impact of the boom geometry on the stray light suppression performance. Two optimization concepts were compared: the inverted cone (that derives from the conic optimization of classical occulting disks) and the serrated edge, of which several samples were manufactured, with different geometrical parameters, surface roughnesses and coatings. This work summarizes the activity we have been carrying on to define the flight specifications for the METIS occulter.

System overview of the VLTI Spectro-Imager

The VLTI Spectro Imager project aims to perform imaging with a temporal resolution of 1 night and with a maximum angular resolution of 1 milliarcsecond, making best use of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer capabilities. To fulfill the scientific goals (see Garcia et. al.), the system requirements are: a) combining 4 to 6 beams; b) working in spectral bands J, H and K; c) spectral resolution from R= 100 to 12000; and d) internal fringe tracking on-axis, or off-axis when associated to the PRIMA dual-beam facility. The concept of VSI consists on 6 sub-systems: a common path distributing the light between the fringe tracker and the scientific instrument, the fringe tracker ensuring the co-phasing of the array, the scientific instrument delivering the interferometric observables and a calibration tool providing sources for internal alignment and interferometric calibrations. The two remaining sub-systems are the control system and the observation support software dedicated to the reduction of the interferometric data. This paper presents the global concept of VSI science path including the common path, the scientific instrument and the calibration tool. The scientific combination using a set of integrated optics multi-way beam combiners to provide high-stability visibility and closure phase measurements are also described. Finally we will address the performance budget of the global VSI instrument. The fringe tracker and scientific spectrograph will be shortly described.

Simple beam combination for stellar interferometry

In stellar interferometry, image quality improves significantly with the inclusion of more telescopes and the use of phase closure. We demonstrate, using first coherent and then partially coherent white light, a compact and efficient pairwise combination of 12 or more beams. The input beams are lined up and spread through a cylindrical lens into a comb of parallel ellipses, which interferes with a perpendicular copy of itself to form a matrix of interferograms between all pairs. The diagonal elements show interference of each beam with itself, for intensity calibration. The measured white-light visibilities were high and stable.

The acquisition camera system for SOXS at NTT

SOXS (Son of X-Shooter) will be the new medium resolution (R~4500 for a 1 arcsec slit), high-efficiency, wide band spectrograph for the ESO-NTT telescope on La Silla. It will be able to cover simultaneously optical and NIR bands (350-2000nm) using two different arms and a pre-slit Common Path feeding system. SOXS will provide an unique facility to follow up any kind of transient event with the best possible response time in addition to high efficiency and availability. Furthermore, a Calibration Unit and an Acquisition Camera System with all the necessary relay optics will be connected to the Common Path sub-system. The Acquisition Camera, working in optical regime, will be primarily focused on target acquisition and secondary guiding, but will also provide an imaging mode for scientific photometry. In this work we give an overview of the Acquisition Camera System for SOXS with all the different functionalities. The optical and mechanical design of the system are also presented together with the preliminary performances in terms of optical quality, throughput, magnitude limits and photometric properties.

VSI: the VLTI spectro-imager

The VLTI Spectro Imager (VSI) was proposed as a second-generation instrument of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer providing the ESO community with spectrally-resolved, near-infrared images at angular resolutions down to 1.1 milliarcsecond and spectral resolutions up to R = 12000. Targets as faint as K = 13 will be imaged without requiring a brighter nearby reference object; fainter targets can be accessed if a suitable reference is available. The unique combination of high-dynamic-range imaging at high angular resolution and high spectral resolution enables a scientific program which serves a broad user community and at the same time provides the opportunity for breakthroughs in many areas of astrophysics. The high level specifications of the instrument are derived from a detailed science case based on the capability to obtain, for the first time, milliarcsecond-resolution images of a wide range of targets including: probing the initial conditions for planet formation in the AU-scale environments of young stars; imaging convective cells and other phenomena on the surfaces of stars; mapping the chemical and physical environments of evolved stars, stellar remnants, and stellar winds; and disentangling the central regions of active galactic nuclei and supermassive black holes. VSI will provide these new capabilities using technologies which have been extensively tested in the past and VSI requires little in terms of new infrastructure on the VLTI. At the same time, VSI will be able to make maximum use of new infrastructure as it becomes available; for example, by combining 4, 6 and eventually 8 telescopes, enabling rapid imaging through the measurement of up to 28 visibilities in every wavelength channel within a few minutes. The current studies are focused on a 4-telescope version with an upgrade to a 6-telescope one. The instrument contains its own fringe tracker and tip-tilt control in order to reduce the constraints on the VLTI infrastructure and maximize the scientific return.

The new SOXS instrument for the ESO NTT

SOXS (Son Of X-Shooter) will be a unique spectroscopic facility for the ESO-NTT 3.5-m telescope in La Silla (Chile), able to cover the optical/NIR band (350-1750 nm). The design foresees a high-efficiency spectrograph with a resolutionslit product of ~4,500, capable of simultaneously observing the complete spectral range 350 - 1750 nm with a good sensitivity, with light imaging capabilities in the visible band. This paper outlines the status of the project.

The Shadow Positioning Sensors (SPS) for formation flying metrology on-board the ESA-PROBA3 mission

PROBA3 is an ESA technology mission devoted to in-orbit demonstration of the formation flight (FF) technique, with two satellites kept at an average inter-distance by about 144 m. The ASPIIC instrument on-board PROBA3 will be the first ever space-based coronagraph working on one satellite and having the external occulter located on the second satellite, thus allowing observations of the inner solar corona with unprecedented reduction of stray light. During the observational periods, the FF configuration will be maintained with very high precision and two different techniques will be implemented: the use of Shadow Positioning Sensors (SPS) located on the Coronagraph Spacecraft (diodes measuring the penumbral light intensity on the entrance pupil plane) and the use of Occulter Position Sensor LEDs (OPSE) located on the back side of the Occulter Spacecraft. This paper will review the main instrumental requirements on the SPS needed to determine the 3-dimensional relative positioning of the two PROBA3 satellites with high precision.