The Design and Construction of High-Resolution Spectrometers for Exoplanet Discovery and Characterisation
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Astronomy Unit School of Physics and Astronomy Queen Mary, University of London The Design and Construction of High-Resolution Spectrometers for Exoplanet Discovery and Characterisation Clark Baker Supervised by Guillem Anglada-Escud´eand Richard Nelson Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1 Declaration I, Clark Baker, confirm that the research included within this thesis is my own work or that where it has been carried out in collaboration with, or supported by others, that this is duly acknowledged below and my contribution indicated. Previously published material is also acknowledged below. I attest that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge break any UK law, infringe any third party's copyright or other Intellectual Property Right, or contain any confidential material. I accept that the College has the right to use plagiarism detection software to check the electronic version of the thesis. I confirm that this thesis has not been previously submitted for the award of a degree by this or any other university. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. Details of collaboration and publications: All of the work outlined in this thesis has been completed in collaboration with my supervisor Dr. Guillem Anglada-Escud´e. Sections of the work contributing to this thesis have been completed in collaboration with the following people: Prof. Hugh Jones, Prof. Bill Martin, Dr. Enric Pall´e,Dr. Roberto L´opez L´opez and Dr. Jos´eLuis Rasilla. The research undertaken in this project has been made possible by contributions from The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), in supporting my studentship, and The Perren Fund, in enabling the procurement of instrument hardware. All figures in this thesis have been produced by the author, unless otherwise stated. Work contributing to this thesis has been published in the following publication: Clark Baker, Guillem Anglada-Escud´e,Hugh Jones, and William Martin \Highly 2 replicable, low-cost, portable, general-purpose, high-resolution spectrometer with applications in stellar studies and exoplanet science", Proc. SPIE 11117, Tech- niques and Instrumentation for Detection of Exoplanets IX, 111171M (9 September 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2529290 Signature: Clark Baker Date: 26/07/2020 3 Abstract In this thesis, we discuss the design and construction of high-resolution spectrome- ters for exoplanet discovery and characterisation across the entire scope of project budgetary regimes. As with all aspects of astronomy, light and more specifically elec- tromagnetic waves are our greatest key to unlocking the secrets of exoplanetary sys- tems. The radial velocity method, in which analysis of the Doppler shift of star light can infer the existence and minimum mass of an exoplanetary system, relies wholly on the application of high-resolution, stable spectrometer systems. Alongside this, powerful spectroscopic techniques such as: transit and cross-correlation spectroscopy (used to probe the atmospheric characteristics of planets), the Rossiter{McLaughlin effect (which can infer spin-orbit characteristics of the planetary system) and re- flected light analysis of a planet (that allow us to discover orbital characteristics and true mass of a planet) require field leading spectrometer design. These investigative techniques alone more than warrant the existence of large, high-cost, ultra-stable, high-resolution spectrograph systems, such as HARPS, PFS, ESPRESSO e.t.c. However, with ever changing science goals, there is scope for a new kind of instrument. With growing discussion amongst the exoplanet community on the application of combined high contrast imaging and high dispersion spectroscopy in exoplanet science, there is a need for replicable, low-cost, stable, high-resolution spectrometer systems for integral field applications; which can be efficiently coupled to high contrast imagers. This thesis presents the design and construction of such an instrument, with a proof of concept prototype spectrometer produced which is compact (comparable in size to a 3U CubeSat chassis), low-cost (<£10; 000), highly-replicable (utilising mostly commercially-off-the-shelf components), stable (demonstrated RV precision of approximately 20m/s) and high-resolution (resolving power > 60; 000). Sub-systems for this instrument, a fibre coupling system and a data-reduction pipeline, are designed and constructed with the complete instrument successfully tested on-sky at the QMUL Astronomy Unit Observatory. The design aspects of this system are further employed in the design study of a large-scale, high-budget, ultra-stable, red-NIR, high-resolution spectrometer con- cept: NEREA (Near Earths and high-Res Exoplanet Atmospheres). If funded, this instrument is to be efficiently coupled to The Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). The combination of the 10m aperture of the GTC and the high-resolution, stable spec- 4 troscopy of NEREA will open up opportunities to investigate exoplanetary systems which are currently unobtainable with contemporary instrumentation. Finally, all of the experience gained through the completion of these projects is channelled into the construction of a `Spectrometer Design Toolkit' software which aids in the rapid design of spectrograph concepts. This system is tested in the re-design of the collimating/re-focussing lens for EXOhSPEC (EXOplanet high res- olution SPECtrograph), a compact, high-resolution spectrograph in development at the University of Hertfordshire for the Thai National Observatory (TNO). 5 Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Guillem Anglada-Escud´e.His support, patience and tutelage throughout these four years has been invaluable. The lessons he has taught me and opportunities he has provided will stay with me throughout the rest of my career. I would like to give special thanks to Richard Nelson for his continued support of me and this project throughout. His efforts and encouragement have enabled us to achieve the results that are outlined in this thesis. Without his support, I am certain that this would not have been possible; I am very grateful. I want to give a huge thanks to John Strachan for all of the time he freely and openly gave to aid me throughout the years. The concepts he helped me to under- stand, his guidance in navigating the life of a PhD student and the time he spent helping me prepare for post-doc interviews has helped me immensely; thank you. Thank you to my collaborators at The University of Hertfordshire, Hugh Jones and Bill Martin, for their support, openness, teachings and shared resources; their contributions have been crucial to allow this project to take place. I hope that my contributions to future collaborations can begin to show my gratitude for this. I would also like to thank Piyamas Choochalerm and Ronny Errmann for their assistance over the years in remotely accessing the resources that I needed. I would also like to give many thanks to my collaborators at the IAC, Enric Pall´e, Roberto L´opez L´opez and Jos´eLuis Rasilla. Their great collaboration, teachings and discussion helped me to make substantial breakthroughs in my understanding of this topic and re-ignited my passion for this work. I want to give a special thanks to Enric Pall´efor his continued advice, infectious enthusiasm and for writing me a very positive reference. Thank you to Steve Thomas for his keenness and enthusiasm for my project throughout and his assistance in observatory matters. When I was interviewed for this PhD position I was asked something to the effect of: \Are you sure you want to do this instrumentation project here, we are primarily a theory group" to which my answer was a resounding \Yes". I want to thank all of the Astronomy Unit staff that made this very out-of-the-ordinary PhD project possible and furthermore for fostering such a positive work environment. I have never known another group where everyone is as caring, friendly and open as the Astronomy Unit. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my examiners, Dr. Edward Gillen and Prof. John Girkin, for all of their efforts in assessing this thesis, their very helpful comments and suggestions, and for fostering a thoroughly enjoyable viva experience. I would now like to thank those that kept me sane over the years. Firstly my 6 fellow PhD students, I would like to thank all of those who were my companions throughout this process - both those who have long since submitted and those that are still studying. You have been amazing, I couldn't imagine a better bunch of people! I will now give some special mentions: • Those that are collectively referred to as the \North Wing": Domenico Trotta, John Ronayne, Paul Hallam, Francesco Lovascio, John Strachan, Callum Boocock, Jesse Coburn, Sandy Zeng, Ali Barlas and George Turpin - with honorary men- tions to Sanson Poon, Frini Taifakou and Rebeca Carrillo. • My fellow 502 office mates: Charalambos `Charlie' Pittordis, Pedro Carrilho, Shailee Imrith, Louis Coates, Eline de Weerd, Viraj Sanghai, Jessie Durk, Sophia Goldberg, Ahdab Althukair and Usman Gilani. • My finishing-up-office mates: Jack Skinner, Jorge Fuentes, Kit Gallagher, Joanna Borowiec and Paul Miyagawa. • The rest of the gang: Alice Giroul, Fraser Kennedy, George Montagnon, Paula Soares, Pedro Fernandes, Kevin Chan. • The post-docs: Maritza Soto, Colin McNally, Gavin Coleman, Luca Franci and Julian Adamek. Thank you all for making this the place that it is! I would also like to take this opportunity to thank some of my closest friends: • \Teem Azeem": Peter Shatwell, James Fernandes, Akash Jyoti, Rhea Mole, Serena Yuen, Emma Davies, Christian Storm, Aalisha Rahim and Liam Smith. • My friends in Tenerife: Nushkia Chamba, Ef¸sanS¨okmenand James Angthopo. I want to give my thanks to my A-level Physics teacher, Ian Roche, for igniting my passion for Physics and for all of the time after lessons he spent answering my endless questions.