The path to detecting extraterrestrial life with astrophotonics

Nemanja Jovanovic; Yinzi Xin; Michael P. Fitzgerald; Olivier Guyon; Peter Tuthill; Barnaby Norris; Pradip Gatkine; Greg Sercel; Svarun Soda; Yoo Jung Kim; Jonathan Lin; Sergio Leon-Saval; Rodrigo Amezcua-Correa; Stephanos Yerolatsitis; Julien Lozi; Sebastien Vievard; Chris Betters; Steph Sallum; Daniel Levinstein; Dimitri Mawet; Jeffrey Jewell; J. Kent Wallace; Nick Cvetojevic

arXiv · 2309.08732

The path to detecting extraterrestrial life with astrophotonics

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Abstract

Astrophysical research into exoplanets has delivered thousands of confirmed planets orbiting distant stars. These planets span a wide ranges of size and composition, with diversity also being the hallmark of system configurations, the great majority of which do not resemble our own solar system. Unfortunately, only a handful of the known planets have been characterized spectroscopically thus far, leaving a gaping void in our understanding of planetary formation processes and planetary types. To make progress, astronomers studying exoplanets will need new and innovative technical solutions. Astrophotonics -- an emerging field focused on the application of photonic technologies to observational astronomy -- provides one promising avenue forward. In this paper we discuss various astrophotonic technologies that could aid in the detection and subsequent characterization of planets and in particular themes leading towards the detection of extraterrestrial life.

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Nemanja Jovanovic, Yinzi Xin, Michael P. Fitzgerald, Olivier Guyon, Peter Tuthill, Barnaby Norris, Pradip Gatkine, Greg Sercel, Svarun Soda, Yoo Jung Kim, Jonathan Lin, Sergio Leon-Saval, Rodrigo Amezcua-Correa, Stephanos Yerolatsitis, Julien Lozi, Sebastien Vievard, Chris Betters, Steph Sallum, Daniel Levinstein, Dimitri Mawet, Jeffrey Jewell, J. Kent Wallace, Nick Cvetojevic. 2023-09-15. The path to detecting extraterrestrial life with astrophotonics. https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.08732

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