Authors:
Shahina M. C. Abdulla
1
;
Lun-Kai Cheng
1
;
Boudewijn v.d. Bosch
1
;
Niels Dijkhuizen
1
;
Remco Nieuwland
1
;
Wim Gielesen
1
;
Jaques Lucas
2
;
Catherine Boussard-Plédel
2
;
Clément Conseil
2
;
Bruno Bureau
3
and
João Pereira Do Carmo
4
Affiliations:
1
TNO, Netherlands
;
2
University of Rennes, France
;
3
Université de Rennes 1 and, France
;
4
European Space Agency, Netherlands
Keyword(s):
Single Mode Fibers, Nulling Interferometry, DARWIN, Chalcogenide Glass, Infrared, Far Field Intensity, Cross Core Scan, TeAsSe Fibers, TeGeGaI, Higher Order Mode Suppression.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Fiber Optics
;
Optics
;
Optics in Astronomy and Astrophysics
;
Photonics, Optics and Laser Technology
Abstract:
The DARWIN mission aims to detect weak infra-red emission lines from distant orbiting earth-like planets using nulling interferometry. This requires filtering of wavefront errors using single mode waveguides operating at a wavelength range of 6.5-20 µm. This article describes the optical design of the fibers, the manufacturing protocol, the packaging for operating at cryogenic environment and various optical characterisations performed. The latter includes investigation on the effect of gold and silver absorption coatings, anti-reflection coating, fiber length on higher order mode suppression and attenuation of the fibers.