Rotationally Shearing Interferometer for Extra-Solar System Planet Detection
Abstract
We demonstrated experimentally, and developed theoretical analysis in support of the proposal, that the rotationally shearing interferometer (RSI) may detect a faint (invisible) distant / point object next to a bright, large object. With this technique the presence of an invisible point object is detected by observing straight fringes. The presence is confirmed unequivocally by the RSI feature that a change in one parameter produces a change in the detected fringe pattern, but only in the presence of an invisible point object. We hypothesized that the RSI may be used as an instrument to detect a planet in a nearby solar system in a technique that causally relates the planet detection with a change of a single parameter under the observers control, the orientation of the Dove prism in the RSI. Namely, the off-axis planet produces straight fringes whose density increases, and the angle of inclination decreases with the angle of rotation of the Dove prism in the RSI. The star generates a uniform wave front that is invariant to the change in the orientation angle of the Dove prism. This may be contrasted with the technique that has discovered so far the largest number of planets. With the passage method, the planet passage in front of the star differentially (by a very small amount) changes the amount of radiation that the star appears to be emitting. We report successful experimental results of the technique to detect an extrasolar planet using an RSI. For the demonstration we designed a simulated solar system, that includes a planet and a star. It consists of two laser beams, each expanded, collimated, and superimposed. We use a beam combiner to offer the simulator as the input in infinity to the RSI. We confirm experimentally the theoretical prediction that the off-axis planet produces straight fringes whose density increases and the angle of inclination decreases with the angle of orientation of the Dove prism in the RSI.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 29, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1153823
Entities
People
- Marija Strojnik
Organizations
- Centro de Investigaciones en Optica