This study discusses the design of three straightforward experiments replicating the Michelson stellar interferometer's operation. Stellar sources' emissions are simulated using light from circular end-faces of step-index polymer optical fibers, enabling the simulation of both single and double stars. As light passes through two identical pinholes on a lid covering a telescope's objective, interference fringes are generated. A digital camera, coupled to a telescope with a variable double aperture lid, captures interference fringes. By measuring fringe visibilities, simulated star diameters and separations are estimated with errors below 18%. The setup enables determining the size of extended sources located approximately 75 meters from the telescope. Additionally, the experiment explores spectral variations in fringe visibilities to extract information about the geometry of different stellar sources or components.
These experiments are tailored for postgraduate students, offering an opportunity to delve into light coherence theory and gain practical experience in optical stellar interferometry, specifically utilizing plastic optical fibers or any other highly multimode fiber.
In this work, we show an experiment in which the analysis of the fringe visibilities at different wavelengths provides information on the spectral morphology of stellar sources. For our purposes, we have inserted a filter wheel between a camera and a telescope obscured by a double-aperture lid for it to operate as a Michelson Stellar interferometer. The wheel allows the use of up to nine astronomical filters. The spectral emission of stellar sources, either single or binary stars, has been simulated by using the light emitted from the output surfaces of two-meter-long polymer optical fibers illuminated by a broadband light-emitting diode. By analyzing the variation of the fringe visibility with the wavelength, we are able to determine the angular size and separation of our light sources, as well as to find the spectral characteristics of the emission of the stars.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.