ACHILLES : AstronomiCal Heterodyne

in Infrared-opticaL with muLti-

apErtureS
The Myrmidons: M. Hadjara, E. A. Michael, E. Moreno, F. Besser, N. Ramos, P. Zorzi, O. Arias, M. Cadiz, B. Cornejo, D. Corvalán, K. Espinoza, R. 
Jara, N. Henriquez, C. Guerrero, B. Guo, J. Ocaranza, G. Pereira, M. Pina, D. Pollarolo, I. Reyes, A. Rodriguez, J. Rojas, T. Rojas, J. Rubio
Astrophotonics group laboratory. University of Chile, Av. Tupper 2007, Santiago, Chile
Email: massinissa.hadjara@raig.uchile.cl Phone +56 2 297‐80630

Abstarct:
We present a low‐cost heterodyne near‐IR interferometry instrument (H‐band), which is being largely made only by Chilean students. It aims is to work on kilometeric bases to allow 
further detailed studies of the stars of our galaxy (including exoplanets), as well as finally widen the field of action of the Optical Long‐Baseline Interferometry (OLBI) to extragalactic 
objects.
As this instrument is obviously of great technical complexity, the poster will simply present, in outline, the main parts that compose it and basically how it works.
Technical description : 
ACHILLES is an interferometer prototype based on commercial 1.55 μm fiber components. As the most crucial component of it we characterized a novel sub‐shot noise correlation
detection system. We are upgrading to a Reconfigurable Open Architecture Computing Hardware, 2nd Generation (ROACH‐2) board with the capacity of four parallel 1.25 GHz 
bandwidth digitization, so that phase closure measurements will be possible. We extended the stabilization of the local oscillator phase between the telescopes to cover the whole acoustic
range. For the telescope to single‐mode fiber coupling under atmospheric perturbation, we developed a fiber actuator lock‐loop for small telescopes and good seeing, and tested an 
adaptive optics approach for mediocre seeing and/or larger telescopes. We constructed also a frequency comb based laser synthesizer system to include tests on multi‐frequency band 
measurements towards ultra‐broad band “dispersed” heterodyne detection systems finally useful for the Planet Formation Imager (PFI).

Motivation and science goals :
Reach kilometric baselines to further study

λ=1.55μm

D≈0.4m
θ≈1000mas Active Galactic Nuclei Planet Formation

θ≈1.5mas θ≈0.03mas

Stellar Formation and evolution
Extragalactic stars
General concept > Commercial 1.55μm‐Fiber Technology 
∙ 1.4 – 1.8 μm is an atmospheric window with >95% transmission (H‐band) ∙ High‐precision phase control beneficial for largest baselines + nulling interferometry
∙ Mobility: connect any group of existing less used medium size optical  ∙ Baselines of many km should be possible: use 14” Goto‐Dobsonians with ALMA buried fibers 
telescopes (e.g. at La Silla, Las Campanas or Tololo, Chile) to run a demonstration experiment
∙ Use as development‐platform forwards Planet Formation Imager (PFI) relevant techniques (Broadband heterodyne detection, Phase tracking)
ACHILLES setup of a two‐telescope interferometer 1. Adaptative Optics
 Two opposite waves donʹt influence each other in a linear medium , which is the case at the 
low intensities we have in the fibers (superposition principle).
 LO‐power distribution limit for the heterodyne interferometer: 𝑃 𝐿 500 Wm, i.e. 1000W for 
5m and 100mW for 5km.

∙ For a better resolution we use

lens and mirror arrangement to
have a ʺCLEANʺ wavefront to be
coupled to the fiber
∙ Piezoelectric deformable mirror
DMP40M‐P01, counteract in real
time the effects of Earthʹs
atmosphere
∙ Wavefront sensor WFS20‐
14AR/M.

5. ROACH‐based  4. Terahertz Bandwidth 3. Fiber Stretcher and  2. Fiber Coupling Control  

Correlator AND Tip‐Tilt Correction
Polarization Control
∙ In order to keep the same ∙ Amateur guiding camera for
phase between the two arms telescope coarse auto‐
∙ This project consists in a
(receivers), we use a fiber guiding and fine guiding
comb‐generator‐based
∙ ROACH‐board Xilinx stretcher and a PID through an original control
LO‐system for future
FPGA‐board with two design.
experiments to increase
3 GSPS iADC cards. ∙ Small (36 cm) telescope needs
the spectral bandwidth,
∙ Compilation of open‐ only tip‐tilt correction under
where signal and comb Example of a scanned beam profile
source correlator good seeing WFS 9999 points dataset Zernike Coefficient 20 
lines will be spectrally Before applying the Fiber Stretcher and after
FFT spectrum 104 spectral channels
models with Xilinx ∙ Tip‐tilt control done with a
dispersed in special ∙ We correct the polarization
Simulink in CD pick‐up actuator . Long‐term Vision
photonics to multiple affected by the stretching of
Matlab/Linux ∙ Digital control based on  Test runs at ISI or VLTI 
parallelized receivers. the fiber, to ensure a constant
environment, and dsPIC33EP. interferometer.
polarization at the telescope,  Test bench for mid‐infrared
development of own
especially maintain parallel Coupled power over time receivers for the PFI. 
improved models.
polarizations at all telescopes Next steps References
∙ Own extension of
and so maximize the cross‐  Get first light  Besser et al., SPIE 2018
correlator model by a
correlations.  Finish improving control frequency for the coupling control loop.  Besser et al., SPIE 2016
second integration
 Finish adding an Adaptive Optics system to correct higher‐mode   Castillo & Michael, IEEE, 2012
block, enabling Poincaré sphere  perturbations.  Michael & Besser, IEEE, 2018
showing the   Michael et al., SPIE, 2018
chopped ON/OFF polarization trajectory   Finish developing optical comb based dispersed heterodyne
Acknowledgement
measurements. Mean power per channel, and phase,  in case of ALMA fiber  receivers.
after an amplification in the range of  stretchers (Castillo & 
about 77 dB for SLED power on and  Michael 2012)
 Finish controling the polarization of  electromagnetic waves ESO‐MIXTO funds 2018, CONICYT‐
ALMA funds Nº 31090018 and 31140025,  
off (Besser et al. 2016).  Implement a 3‐telescope interferometer to get closure phase .  QUIMAL Nº150010, CATA‐Basal PFB‐06