GRAVITY: metrology

Stefan Gillessen; Magdalena Lippa; Frank Eisenhauer; Oliver Pfuhl; Marcus Haug; Stefan Kellner; Thomas Ott; Ekkehard Wieprecht; Eckhard Sturm; Frank Haußmann; Clemens F. Kister; David Moch; Markus Thiel

doi:10.1117/12.926813

12 September 2012 GRAVITY: metrology

Stefan Gillessen, Magdalena Lippa, Frank Eisenhauer, Oliver Pfuhl, Marcus Haug, Stefan Kellner, Thomas Ott, Ekkehard Wieprecht, Eckhard Sturm, Frank Haußmann, Clemens F. Kister, David Moch, Markus Thiel

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8445, Optical and Infrared Interferometry III; 84451O (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926813
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

GRAVITY is a second generation VLTI instrument, combining the light of four telescopes and two objects simultaneously. The main goal is to obtain astrometrically accurate information. Besides correctly measured stellar phases this requires the knowledge of the instrumental differential phase, which has to be measured optically during the astronomical observations. This is the purpose of a dedicated metrology system. The GRAVITY metrology covers the full optical path, from the beam combiners up to the reference points in the beam of the primary telescope mirror, minimizing the systematic uncertainties and providing a proper baseline in astrometric terms. Two laser beams with a fixed phase relation travel backward the whole optical chain, creating a fringe pattern in any plane close to a pupil. By temporal encoding the phase information can be extracted at any point by means of flux measurements with photo diodes. The reference points chosen sample the pupil at typical radii, eliminating potential systematics due differential focus. We present the final design and the performance estimate, which is in accordance with the overall requirements for GRAVITY.

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Stefan Gillessen, Magdalena Lippa, Frank Eisenhauer, Oliver Pfuhl, Marcus Haug, Stefan Kellner, Thomas Ott, Ekkehard Wieprecht, Eckhard Sturm, Frank Haußmann, Clemens F. Kister, David Moch, and Markus Thiel "GRAVITY: metrology", Proc. SPIE 8445, Optical and Infrared Interferometry III, 84451O (12 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926813

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