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arXiv · 0908.1325

Ultrafast laser inscription: an enabling technology for astrophotonics

Robert R. Thomson·Ajoy K. Kar·Jeremy Allington-Smith
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Abstract

The application of photonics to astronomy offers major advantages in the area of highly-multiplexed spectroscopy, especially when applied to extremely large telescopes. These include the suppression of the near-infrared night-sky spectrum [J. Bland-Hawthorn et al, Opt. Express 12, 5902 (2004), S. G. Leon-Saval et al, Opt. Lett. 30, 2545 (2005)] and the miniaturisation of spectrographs so that they may integrated into the light-path of individual spatial samples [J. Bland-Hawthorn et al, Proc SPIE 6269, 62690N (2006)]. Efficient collection of light from the telescope requires multimode optical fibres and three-dimensional photonic devices. We propose ultrafast laser inscription (ULI) [R. R. Thomson et al, Opt. Express 15, 11691 (2007)] as the best technology to fabricate 3D photonic devices for astrophotonic applications.

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Robert R. Thomson, Ajoy K. Kar, Jeremy Allington-Smith. 2009-08-10. Ultrafast laser inscription: an enabling technology for astrophotonics. https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.17.001963

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