Mathias Tecza

EPICS: direct imaging of exoplanets with the E-ELT

Presently, dedicated instruments at large telescopes (SPHERE for the VLT, GPI for Gemini) are about to discover and explore self-luminous giant planets by direct imaging and spectroscopy. The next generation of 30m-40m ground-based telescopes, the Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs), have the potential to dramatically enlarge the discovery space towards older giant planets seen in reflected light and ultimately even a small number of rocky planets. EPICS is a proposed instrument for the European ELT, dedicated to the detection and characterization of Exoplanets by direct imaging, spectroscopy and polarimetry. ESO completed a phase-A study for EPICS with a large European consortium which - by simulations and demonstration experiments - investigated state-of-the-art diffraction and speckle suppression techniques to deliver highest contrasts. The paper presents the instrument concept and analysis as well as its main innovations and science capabilities. EPICS is capable of discovering hundreds of giant planets, and dozens of lower mass planets down to the rocky planets domain.

Status of the KMOS multi-object near-infrared integral field spectrograph

KMOS is a multi-object near-infrared integral field spectrograph being built by a consortium of UK and German institutes. We report on the final integration and test phases of KMOS, and its performance verification, prior to commissioning on the ESO VLT later this year.

HARMONI: a single-field wide-band integral-field spectrograph for the European ELT

We describe the results of a Phase A study for a single field, wide band, near-infrared integral field spectrograph for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). HARMONI, the High Angular Resolution Monolithic Optical & Nearinfrared Integral field spectrograph, provides the E-ELTs core spectroscopic requirement. It is a work-horse instrument, with four different spatial scales, ranging from seeing to diffraction-limited, and spectral resolving powers of 4000, 10000 & 20000 covering the 0.47 to 2.45 μm wavelength range. It is optimally suited to carry out a wide range of observing programs, focusing on detailed, spatially resolved studies of extended objects to unravel their morphology, kinematics and chemical composition, whilst also enabling ultra-sensitive observations of point sources. We present a synopsis of the key science cases motivating the instrument, the top level specifications, a description of the opto-mechanical concept, operation and calibration plan, and image quality and throughput budgets. Issues of expected performance, complementarity and synergies, as well as simulated observations are presented elsewhere in these proceedings[1].

The opto-mechanical design of HARMONI: a first light integral field spectrograph for the E-ELT

HARMONI is a visible and near-IR integral field spectrograph, providing the E-ELTs spectroscopic capability at first light. It obtains simultaneous spectra of 32000 spaxels, at a range of resolving powers from R~4000 to R~20000, covering the wavelength range from 0.47 to 2.45 μm. The 256 × 128 spaxel field of view has four different plate scales, with the coarsest scale (40 mas) providing a 5″ × 10″ FoV, while the finest scale is a factor of 10 finer (4mas). We describe the opto-mechanical design of HARMONI, prior to the start of preliminary design, including the main subsystems - namely the image de-rotator, the scale-changing optics, the splitting and slicing optics, and the spectrographs. We also present the secondary guiding system, the pupil imaging optics, the field and pupil stops, the natural guide star wavefront sensor, and the calibration unit.

Recent progress on the KMOS multi-object integral-field spectrograph for ESO VLT

KMOS is a near-infrared multi-object integral-field spectrometer which is one of a suite of second-generation instruments under construction for the VLT. The instrument is being built by a consortium of UK and German institutes working in partnership with ESO and is now in the manufacture, integration and test phase. In this paper we present an overview of recent progress with the design and build of KMOS and present the first results from the subsystem test and integration.

Coronagraphic capability for HARMONI at the E-ELT

HARMONI is a proposed visible and near-infrared integral field spectrograph for the European Extremely Large Telescope. We are exploring the merits of adding a coronagraphic capability to HARMONI, specifically targeted at enabling observations of faint, nearby companions (primarily extra-solar planets) that require high contrast. Although HARMONI is not fed by extreme adaptive optics, we show that substantial contrasts can be achieved by post-processing of the hyperspectral data cube using spectral deconvolution. We make predictions of achievable contrast as a function of coronagraph design, based on realistic models of the telescopes aberrations.

Expected performance and simulated observations of the instrument HARMONI at the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT)

HARMONI has been conceived as a workhorse visible and near-infrared (0.47-2.45 microns) integral field spectrograph for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). It provides both seeing and diffraction limited observations at several spectral resolutions (R= 4000, 10000, 20000). HARMONI can operate with almost any flavor of AO (e.g. GLAO, LTAO, SCAO), and it is equipped with four spaxel scales (4, 10, 20 and 40 mas) thanks to which it can be optimally configured for a wide variety of science programs, from ultra-sensitive observations of point sources to highangular resolution spatially resolved studies of extended objects. In this paper we describe the expected performance of the instrument as well as its scientific potential. We show some simulated observations for a selected science program, and compare HARMONI with other ground and space based facilities, like VLT, ALMA, and JWST, commenting on their synergies and complementarities.

High-contrast observations with slicer-based integral field spectrographs 2: Experimental tests

As part of the Phase A study for the EPICS instrument, we investigate if there are any contrast limitations imposed by the choice of the integral field spectrograph (IFS) technology, and if so, to determine the contrast limits applicable to each technology. In this document we investigate (through production of a prototype and actual laboratory tests) the contrast limitations inherent in a slicer based IFS. Using an experimental set-up that generates speckles at the input to a slicer based integral field spectrograph, we have conclusively demonstrated that a slicer based IFS (that has not been specifically designed for high contrast observations) does NOT limit the contrast achieved by a planet finding instrument at the level of at least one part in 250 per spectral channel at R~800. This limit is imposed by the limited source intensity available for the measurements made with the test beds current setup and is to be improved upon in the near future. This level of speckle noise rejection already satisfies the top level requirements of the EPICS instrument.