| Name: | Supriyo Ghosh |
| Affiliation: | University of Hertfordshire |
| Conference ID : | ASI2024_62 |
| Title : | EXOhSPEC: A small and inexpensive actively controlled high-resolution optical spectrograph |
| Authors : | On behalf of EXOhSPEC team: Supriyo Ghosh |
| Authors Affiliation: | Supriyo Ghosh (University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, AL10 9AB, United Kingdom) |
| Mode of Presentation: | Oral |
| Abstract Category : | Facilities, Technologies and Data science |
| Abstract : | Measuring accurate and precise radial velocities of extra-solar planets is a challenge because of several factors, for instance long-term stability of the instrument, accurate reduction and calibration of the astronomical images. Thus, the size and cost of such instruments would be enhanced with a larger telescope as the customisation of different components is needed. However, a high-resolution spectrograph built from commercially available components significantly reduces the size and cost without a modest impact on the performance. One such instrument is the EXOplanet high resolution SPECtrograph (EXOhSPEC), which is under development at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. It is an actively controlled fibre-fed double-pass optical spectrograph built from off-the-shelf components such as a collimator/camera lens, cross-dispersing prism, grating and CMOS detector and has dimensions of approximately 30 x 40 cm only. The performance of the spectrograph was explored in an astronomical setting on telescopes on the Sun and local stars. In this presentation, I present our latest several promising developments including modal noise control using optical agitation, fibre tapering, temperature stabilisation and control of optical path length with respect to temperature and pressure variation in an unsealed enclosure. |
