Interferometric coupling of the Keck telescopes with single-mode fibers

Guy Perrin (1, 2, 3) , Julien M. Woillez (4) , Olivier Lai (5) , Jean Guerin (1, 2, 3) , Takayuki Kotani (1, 2, 3) , Peter L. Wizinovich (4) , David Le Mignant (4) , M. Hrynevych (4) , J. Gathright (4) , Pierre Léna (1, 2, 3) , F. Chaffee (4) , Sébastien Vergnole (6) , L. Delage (6) , Francois Reynaud (6) , Andrew J. Adamson (7) , C. Berthod (8) , B. Brient (8) , Claude Collin (1, 2, 3) , Jean Crétenet (9, 10) , Frédéric Dauny (1, 2, 3) , C. Deléglise (8) , Pierre Fédou (1, 2, 3) , Thierry Goeltzenlichter (1, 2, 3) , Olivier Guyon (11) , Roger Hulin (1, 2, 3) , Claude Marlot (1, 2, 3) , Michel Marteaud (1, 2, 3, 9, 10) , Basile-Thierry Melse (1, 2, 3) , Jun Nishikawa (9, 10) , Jean-Michel Reess (12, 1, 2, 3) , Stephen Ridgway (1, 2, 3) , François Rigaut (13) , K. Roth (14) , Alan T. Tokunaga (14) , Denis Ziegler (15, 1, 2, 3)

1 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
2 Pôle Astronomie du LESIA
3 Ingénieurs, Techniciens et Administratifs
4 W. M. Keck Observatory
5 CFHT - Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation
6 IRCOM - Institut de Recherche en Communications Optiques et Microondes
7 United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope, Hilo
8 DTI - Division technique INSU/SDU
9 GEPI - Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique, Instrumentation
10 Pôle instrumental
11 Subaru Telescope
12 NAOJ - National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
13 NOAO - National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson
14 Gemini Observatory
15 Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii

We report the successful interferometric coupling of two large telescopes using single-mode fibers. Interference fringes were obtained in the 2-2.3 micron wavelength range on the star 107 Herculis with the two Keck 10-m telescopes, each feeding their common interferometric focus with 300 m of single-mode fibers. The beams collected by the two telescopes were corrected with adaptive optics to restore the spatial coherence of light over the large pupils. This first step of the 'OHANA project demonstrates the potential of fibers to efficiently guide beams and preserve their coherence for future kilometric arrays of telescopes.

Domaines: Astrophysique [astro-ph]

Guy Perrin, Julien M. Woillez, Olivier Lai, Jean Guerin, Takayuki Kotani, et al.. Interferometric coupling of the Keck telescopes with single-mode fibers. Science, 2006, 311, pp.194. ⟨10.1126/science.1120249⟩. ⟨hal-03732303⟩