Characterization of the optical throughput performance of the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer (NPOI)

Xiaolei Zhang; J. Thomas Armstrong; James A. Clark III; G. Charmaine Gilbreath; Robert Lucke; Sergio Restaino; David Mozurkewich; James A. Benson; Donald J. Hutter; Nat White; Henrique Schmitt; Joshua P. Walton

doi:10.1117/12.670001

29 June 2006 Characterization of the optical throughput performance of the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer (NPOI)

Xiaolei Zhang, J. Thomas Armstrong, James A. Clark III, G. Charmaine Gilbreath, Robert Lucke, Sergio Restaino, David Mozurkewich, James A. Benson, Donald J. Hutter, Nat White, Henrique Schmitt, Joshua P. Walton

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6268, Advances in Stellar Interferometry; 62683V (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.670001
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2006, Orlando, Florida , United States

Abstract

We have developed an approach for systematically investigating the optical throughput performance of the different segments of a Michelson stellar interferometer, and applied it to the characterization of the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer (NPOI). We report the results of the first phase of throughput measurements on NPOI, as well as some of the lessons learned. Since the current generation of ground-based optical interferometers all suffers from varying degree of throughput degradation while the dominant causes for throughput loss are expected to vary for each individual instrument, the methodologies and approaches developed here could be of general use for the quantitative characterization of the throughput performance of the different optical interferometers, a prerequisite for its ultimate improvement.

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Xiaolei Zhang, J. Thomas Armstrong, James A. Clark III, G. Charmaine Gilbreath, Robert Lucke, Sergio Restaino, David Mozurkewich, James A. Benson, Donald J. Hutter, Nat White, Henrique Schmitt, and Joshua P. Walton "Characterization of the optical throughput performance of the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer (NPOI)", Proc. SPIE 6268, Advances in Stellar Interferometry, 62683V (29 June 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.670001

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