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arXiv · 1312.4098

Control interface concepts for CHARA 6-telescope fringe tracking with CHAMP+MIRC

Stefan Kraus·John Monnier·Fabien Baron·Xiao Che·Rafael Millan-Gabet·Natalie Thureau·Ettore Pedretti
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Abstract

Cophasing six telescopes from the CHARA array, the CHARA-Michigan Phasetracker (CHAMP) and Michigan Infrared Combiner (MIRC) are pushing the frontiers of infrared long-baseline interferometric imaging in key scientific areas such as star- and planet-formation. Here we review our concepts and recent improvements on the CHAMP and MIRC control interfaces, which establish the communication to the real-time data recording & fringe tracking code, provide essential performance diagnostics, and assist the observer in the alignment and flux optimization procedure. For fringe detection and tracking with MIRC, we have developed a novel matrix approach, which provides predictions for the fringe positions based on cross-fringe information.

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Stefan Kraus, John Monnier, Fabien Baron, Xiao Che, Rafael Millan-Gabet, Natalie Thureau, Ettore Pedretti. 2013-12-15. Control interface concepts for CHARA 6-telescope fringe tracking with CHAMP+MIRC. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926559

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