Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

MICROPHOTONICS

Astrocombs for extreme-precision spectroscopy

Nature Astronomy volume 3, pages 135–136 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

Microphotonic frequency combs are chip-based light sources, until now confined to optics laboratories. Improved stabilities usher these devices out of the lab and into high-resolution astronomic spectrometer systems.

The success of spectroscopic studies very often depends on the identification of small wavelength differences; exoplanets, for example, induce radial velocity shifts in their parent stars, perceivable as minuscule Doppler shifts in the emission spectra3. The fine calibration of high-precision spectrographs — that is, the determination of an accurate and repeatable spectrograph pixel-to-wavelength mapping — is thus a key prerequisite for enhancing their ability to detect small-amplitude signals, hence extending their scope of operation. This specialized task demands light sources with known and stable spectra, and sharp emission peaks (commonly referred to as lines) akin to marks on a ruler.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: An illustration of an on-chip frequency comb as a calibration source.

References

  1. Obrzud, E. et al. Nat. Photon. 13, 31–35 (2019).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Suh, M.-G. et al. Nat. Photon. 13, 25–30 (2019).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Struve, O. Observatory 72, 199–200 (1952).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. McCracken, R. A., Charsley, J. M. & Reid, D. T. Opt. Express 25, 15058–15078 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Fischer, D. A. et al. Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac. 128, 066001 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Chang, G. et al. Opt. Express 20, 24987–25013 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Metcalf, A. J. et al. In Conf. Lasers Electro-Optics JTh5A.1 (OSA, 2018).

  8. Del’Haye, P. et al. Nature 450, 1214–1217 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Moss, D. J., Morandotti, R., Gaeta, A. L. & Lipson, M. Nat. Photon. 7, 597–607 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Herr, T. et al. Nat. Photon. 8, 145–152 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Yi, X., Yang, Q.-F., Yang, K. Y., Suh, M.-G. & Vahala, K. Optica 2, 1078–1085 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Kippenberg, T. J., Gaeta, A. L., Lipson, M. & Gorodetsky, M. L. Science 361, eaan8083 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Pasquazi, A. et al. Phys. Rep. 729, 1–81 (2018).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS-EMT), Varennes, Quebec, Canada

    Piotr Roztocki & Roberto Morandotti

  2. Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China

    Roberto Morandotti

  3. ITMO University, St. Petersburg, Russia

    Roberto Morandotti

Authors
  1. Piotr Roztocki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Roberto Morandotti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Piotr Roztocki or Roberto Morandotti.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Roztocki, P., Morandotti, R. Astrocombs for extreme-precision spectroscopy. Nat Astron 3, 135–136 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0698-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0698-y

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing