PIONIER: combining 4 telescopes of the very large telescope interferometer using a photonics beam combiner

• Published in: 2011 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe and 12th European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO EUROPE/EQEC) p. 1
• Main Authors: Kern, P., Jocou, L., Berger, J., Lebouquin, J., Lazareff, B., Zins, G., Labeye, P., Millan-Gabet, R., Traub, W., Haguenauer, P., Delboulbe, A., Feautrier, P., Germain, M., Gillier, D., Gitton, P., Lizon, J., Magnard, Y., Malbet, F., Maurel, D., Michaud, L., Morel, S., Moulin, T., Perraut, K., Rabou, P., Rochat, S., Roussel, F., Roux, A., Stadler, E.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01-05-2011
• Subjects: Cameras; Integrated optics; Optical interferometry; Photonics; Telescopes; USA Councils
• ISBN: 9781457705335; 1457705338
• DOI: 10.1109/CLEOE.2011.5943671

PIONIER (Precision Integrated Optics Near-infrared Imaging ExpeRiment) is a visitor instrument that performs the interferometric beam combination in the near infrared of the light delivered by the 4 main telescopes (8m) or auxiliary telescopes (1.8m) of the VLTI on the ESO Paranal site (Chile). The heart of the instrument is a photonics device optimized for H band operation (1.5 - 1.8μm) that was developed at LETI in collaboration with IPAG (formerly LAOG). This silica-on-silicon integrated optics component splits the signals coming from the 4 telescopes and recombines them, providing for each of the 6 baselines 4 phase states, thanks to integrated phase shifting functions, for a total of 24 outputs. The overall component transmission over the complete H band is 65%. These outputs are imaged on a PICNIC IR camera.