Donald Gavel

First light of the Gemini Planet Imager

Bruce Macintosh a , James R. Graham , Patrick Ingraham b , Quinn Konopacky , Christian Marois , Marshall Perrin f , Lisa Poyneer a , Brian Bauman a , Travis Barman , Adam Burrows , Andrew Cardwell , Jeffrey Chilcote j , Robert J. De Rosa , Daren Dillon , Rene Doyon , Jennifer Dunn e , Darren Erikson e , Michael Fitzgerald j , Donald Gavel l , Stephen Goodsell i , Markus Hartung i , Pascale Hibon i , Paul G. Kalas c , James Larkin j , Jerome Maire d , Franck Marchis , Mark Marley , James McBride c , Max Millar-Blanchaer d , Katie Morzinski , Andew Norton l B. R. Oppenheimer , Dave Palmer a , Jennifer Patience k , Laurent Pueyo f , Fredrik Rantakyro i , Naru Sadakuni i , Leslie Saddlemyer e , Dmitry Savransky , Andrew Serio i , Remi Soummer f Anand Sivaramakrishnan f , q Inseok Song , Sandrine Thomas , J. Kent Wallace , Sloane Wiktorowicz l , and Schuyler Wolff vSignificance Direct detection—spatially resolving the light of a planet from the light of its parent star—is an important technique for characterizing exoplanets. It allows observations of giant exoplanets in locations like those in our solar system, inaccessible by other methods. The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a new instrument for the Gemini South telescope. Designed and optimized only for high-contrast imaging, it incorporates advanced adaptive optics, diffraction control, a near-infrared spectrograph, and an imaging polarimeter. During first-light scientific observations in November 2013, GPI achieved contrast performance that is an order of magnitude better than conventional adaptive optics imagers. The Gemini Planet Imager is a dedicated facility for directly imaging and spectroscopically characterizing extrasolar planets. It combines a very high-order adaptive optics system, a diffraction-suppressing coronagraph, and an integral field spectrograph with low spectral resolution but high spatial resolution. Every aspect of the Gemini Planet Imager has been tuned for maximum sensitivity to faint planets near bright stars. During first-light observations, we achieved an estimated H band Strehl ratio of 0.89 and a 5-σ contrast of 106 at 0.75 arcseconds and 105 at 0.35 arcseconds. Observations of Beta Pictoris clearly detect the planet, Beta Pictoris b, in a single 60-s exposure with minimal postprocessing. Beta Pictoris b is observed at a separation of 434 ± 6 milliarcseconds (mas) and position angle 211.8 ± 0.5°. Fitting the Keplerian orbit of Beta Pic b using the new position together with previous astrometry gives a factor of 3 improvement in most parameters over previous solutions. The planet orbits at a semimajor axis of 9.0−0.4+0.8 AU near the 3:2 resonance with the previously known 6-AU asteroidal belt and is aligned with the inner warped disk. The observations give a 4% probability of a transit of the planet in late 2017.

The Gemini Planet Imager: From Science to Design to Construction

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a facility instrument under construction for the 8-m Gemini South telescope. It combines a 1500 subaperture AO system using a MEMS deformable mirror, an apodized-pupil Lyot coronagraph, a high-accuracy IR interferometer calibration system, and a near-infrared integral field spectrograph to allow detection and characterization of self-luminous extrasolar planets at planet/star contrast ratios of 10-7. I will discuss the evolution from science requirements through modeling to the final detailed design, provide an overview of the subsystems and show models of the instruments predicted performance.

The Gemini Planet Imager

The next major frontier in the study of extrasolar planets is direct imaging detection of the planets themselves. With high-order adaptive optics, careful system design, and advanced coronagraphy, it is possible for an AO system on a 8-m class telescope to achieve contrast levels of 10-7 to 10-8, sufficient to detect warm self-luminous Jovian planets in the solar neighborhood. Such direct detection is sensitive to planets inaccessible to current radial-velocity surveys and allows spectral characterization of the planets, shedding light on planet formation and the structure of other solar systems. We have begun the construction of such a system for the Gemini Observatory. Dubbed the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), this instrument should be deployed in 2010 on the Gemini South telescope. It combines a 2000-actuator MEMS-based AO system, an apodized-pupil Lyot coronagraph, a precision infrared interferometer for real-time wavefront calibration at the nanometer level, and a infrared integral field spectrograph for detection and characterization of the target planets. GPI will be able to achieve Strehl ratios > 0.9 at 1.65 microns and to observe a broad sample of science targets with I band magnitudes less than 8. In addition to planet detection, GPI will also be capable of polarimetric imaging of circumstellar dust disks, studies of evolved stars, and high-Strehl imaging spectroscopy of bright targets. We present here an overview of the GPI instrument design, an error budget highlighting key technological challenges, and models of the system performance.

Adaptive optics wide-field microscopy using direct wavefront sensing

We report a technique for measuring and correcting the wavefront aberrations introduced by a biological sample using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, a fluorescent reference source, and a deformable mirror. The reference source and sample fluorescence are at different wavelengths to separate wavefront measurement and sample imaging. The measurement and correction at one wavelength improves the resolving power at a different wavelength, enabling the structure of the sample to be resolved.

Wavefront aberration measurements and corrections through thick tissue using fluorescent microsphere reference beacons

We present a new method to directly measure and correct the aberrations introduced when imaging through thick biological tissue. A Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor is used to directly measure the wavefront error induced by a Drosophila embryo. The wavefront measurements are taken by seeding the embryo with fluorescent microspheres used as “artificial guide-stars.” The wavefront error is corrected in ten millisecond steps by applying the inverse to the wavefront error on a micro-electro-mechanical deformable mirror in the image path of the microscope. The results show that this new approach is capable of improving the Strehl ratio by 2 times on average and as high as 10 times when imaging through 100 μm of tissue. The results also show that the isoplanatic half-width is approximately 19 μm resulting in a corrected field of view 38 μm in diameter around the guide-star.

Laser guide star adaptive optics imaging polarimetry of Herbig Ae/Be stars

We have used laser guide star adaptive optics and a near-infrared dual-channel imaging polarimeter to observe light scattered in the circumstellar environment of Herbig Ae/Be stars on scales of 100 to 300 astronomical units. We revealed a strongly polarized, biconical nebula 10 arc seconds (6000 astronomical units) in diameter around the star LkHα 198 and also observed a polarized jet-like feature associated with the deeply embedded source LkHα 198-IR. The star LkHα 233 presents a narrow, unpolarized dark lane consistent with an optically thick circumstellar disk blocking our direct view of the star. These data show that the lower-mass T Tauri and intermediate mass Herbig Ae/Be stars share a common evolutionary sequence.

The open-loop control of MEMS: modeling and experimental results

As adaptive optics (AO) technology progresses, both wide-field and high-order wavefront correction systems become reachable. Deformable mirrors (DMs) in these advanced architectures must exhibit exemplary performance to give low wavefront error. Such DMs must be economically attainable, meet stroke as well as flatness requirements, and show stable and repeatable actuation. Micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) deformable mirrors, undergoing testing and characterization in the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics (LAO) at the University of California at Santa Cruz, show promise on these fronts. In addition to requiring advanced deformable mirror technology, these progressive AO architectures require advanced DM control algorithms. We therefore present a formulation for accurate open-loop control of MEMS deformable mirrors. The electrostatic actuators in a discrete-actuator MEMS device are attached via posts to a thin reflective top plate. The plate itself can be well-modeled by the thin plate equation. The actuators, although nonlinear in their response to applied voltage and deformation, are independent of each other except through forces transmitted by the top plate and can be empirically modeled via a calibration procedure we will describe. In this paper we present the modeling and laboratory results. So far in the lab we have achieved open loop control to approximately 15 nm accuracy in response to arbitrary commands of approximately 500 nm amplitude. Open-loop control enables a wealth of new applications for astronomical adaptive optics instruments, particularly in multi-object integral field spectroscopy, which we will describe.

The Gemini Planet Imager: integration and status

The Gemini Planet Imager is a next-generation instrument for the direct detection and characterization of young warm exoplanets, designed to be an order of magnitude more sensitive than existing facilities. It combines a 1700-actuator adaptive optics system, an apodized-pupil Lyot coronagraph, a precision interferometric infrared wavefront sensor, and a integral field spectrograph. All hardware and software subsystems are now complete and undergoing integration and test at UC Santa Cruz. We will present test results on each subsystem and the results of end-to-end testing. In laboratory testing, GPI has achieved a raw contrast (without post-processing) of 10-6 5σ at 0.4”, and with multiwavelength speckle suppression, 2x10-7 at the same separation.

Data reduction pipeline for the Gemini Planet Imager

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) high-contrast adaptive optics system, which is currently under construction for Gemini South, has an IFS as its science instrument. This paper describes the data reduction pipeline of the GPI science instrument. Written in IDL, with a modular architecture, this pipeline reduces an ensemble of highcontrast spectroscopic or polarimetric raw science images and calibration data into a final dataset ready for scientific analysis. It includes speckle suppression techniques such as angular and spectral differential imaging that are necessary to achieve extreme contrast performances for which the instrument is designed. This paper presents also raw GPI IFS simulated data developed to test the pipeline.

Visible light laser guidestar experimental system (Villages): on-sky tests of new technologies for visible wavelength all-sky coverage adaptive optics systems

The Lick Observatory is pursuing new technologies for adaptive optics that will enable feasible low cost laser guidestar systems for visible wavelength astronomy. The Villages system, commissioned at the 40 inch Nickel Telescope this past Fall, serves as an on-sky testbed for new deformable mirror technology (high-actuator count MEMS devices), open-loop wavefront sensing and control, pyramid wavefront sensing, and laser uplink correction. We describe the goals of our experiments and present the early on-sky results of AO closed-loop and open-loop operation. We will also report on our plans for on-sky tests of the direct-phase measuring pyramid-lenslet wavefront sensor and plans for installing a laser guidestar system.