Seidr update: photonic ‘black magic’ for high-contrast interferometry using kernel-nulling and photonic lanterns

Abstract

Seidr is a new interferometric beam combiner within the Asgard Suite, utilizing infrastructure common to the Bifrost instrument at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer. Seidr combines hybrid mode-selective photonic lantern injection modules with a kernel-nulling photonic chip backend to enable deep H-band nulling for high-contrast studies of exoplanets, gravitational lensing events, and exomoons. This instrument update summarizes Seidr’s current design maturity and recent simulations of the point source – to – lantern outputs. We also outline progress on our neural network–based wavefront estimation scheme, which uses the photonic lantern outputs to sense phase fluctuations, designed to feed back to Baldr’s deformable mirror, and improve nuller light injection.

Authors 16

1. Nathan K. Long

   The University of Sydney

   Affiliation as printed

   Univ. of Sydney (Australia)

2. Daniel S. Dahl

   The University of Sydney

   Affiliation as printed

   Univ. of Sydney (Australia)

3. Christopher H. Betters

   The University of Sydney

   Affiliation as printed

   Univ. of Sydney (Australia)

4. Julia J. Bryant

   The University of Sydney

   Affiliation as printed

   Univ. of Sydney (Australia)

5. Nick Cvetojević

   Université Côte d'Azur · Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur

   Affiliation as printed

   Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Univ. Côte d’Azur (France)

6. Michael Ireland

   Australian National University

   Affiliation as printed

   Australian National Univ. (Australia)

7. Stefan Kraus

   University of Exeter

   Affiliation as printed

   Univ. of Exeter (United Kingdom)

8. Sergio G. Leon-Saval

   The University of Sydney

   Affiliation as printed

   Univ. of Sydney (Australia)

9. Frantz Martinache

   Université Côte d'Azur · Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur

   Affiliation as printed

   Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Univ. Côte d’Azur (France)

10. Marc-Antoine Martinod

    Université Côte d'Azur · Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur

    Affiliation as printed

    Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Univ. Côte d’Azur (France)

11. Barnaby R. M. Norris

    The University of Sydney

    Affiliation as printed

    Univ. of Sydney (Australia)

12. Jyotirmay Paul

    University of Exeter

    Affiliation as printed

    Univ. of Exeter (United Kingdom)

13. Akira Rodziewicz-Ryan

    The University of Sydney

    Affiliation as printed

    Univ. of Sydney (Australia)

14. Adam K. Taras Aachen Leiden Univ. (Netherlands)

    Leiden University

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden Univ. (Australia)

15. Jin Wei

    The University of Sydney

    Affiliation as printed

    Univ. of Sydney (Australia)

16. Peter Tuthill

    The University of Sydney

    Affiliation as printed

    Univ. of Sydney (Australia)