Open Access
6 June 2023 MYSTIC: a high angular resolution K-band imager at CHARA
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Abstract

The Michigan Young Star Imager at CHARA (MYSTIC) is a K-band interferometric beam combining instrument funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, designed primarily for imaging sub-au scale disk structures around nearby young stars and to probe the planet formation process. Installed at the CHARA Array in July 2021, with baselines up to 331 m, MYSTIC provides a maximum angular resolution of λ / 2B ∼ 0.7 mas. The instrument injects phase-corrected light from the array into inexpensive, single-mode, polarization maintaining silica fibers, which are then passed via a vacuum feedthrough into a cryogenic dewar operating at 220 K for imaging. MYSTIC uses a high frame rate, ultra-low read noise SAPHIRA detector and implements two beam combiners: a six-telescope image plane beam combiner, based on the MIRC-X design, for targets as faint as 7.7 Kmag, as well as a four-telescope integrated optic beam-combiner mode using a spare chip leftover from the GRAVITY instrument. MYSTIC is co-phased with the MIRC-X (J + H band) instrument for simultaneous fringe-tracking and imaging and shares its software suite with the latter to allow a single observer to operate both instruments. We present the instrument design, review its operational performance, present early commissioning science observations, and propose upgrades to the instrument that could improve its K-band sensitivity to 10th magnitude in the near future.

CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.
Benjamin R. Setterholm, John D. Monnier, Jean-Baptiste Le Bouquin, Narsireddy Anugu, Jacob Ennis, Laurent Jocou, Nour Ibrahim, Stefan Kraus, Matthew D. Anderson, Sorabh Chhabra, Isabelle Codron, Christopher D. Farrington, Becky Flores, Tyler Gardner, Mayra Gutierrez, Cyprien Lanthermann, Olli W. Majoinen, Daniel J. Mortimer, Gail H. Schaefer, Nicholas J. Scott, Theo A. ten Brummelaar, and Norman L. Vargas "MYSTIC: a high angular resolution K-band imager at CHARA," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 9(2), 025006 (6 June 2023). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.9.2.025006
Received: 24 October 2022; Accepted: 18 May 2023; Published: 6 June 2023
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CITATIONS
Cited by 4 scholarly publications.
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KEYWORDS
Equipment

K band

Beam combiners

Spatial resolution

Cameras

Imaging systems

Mirrors

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