Integrated optics for astronomical interferometry

IV. First measurements of stars

¹ Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
² Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de l'Observatoire de Grenoble, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
³ CSO mesure, 70 Av. des Martyrs, 38000 Grenoble, France
⁴ Laboratoire d'Électromagnétisme Microondes et Optoélectronique, 38016 Grenoble Cedex 1, France
⁵ CEA-LETI Département de Microtechnologies, 17 rue des Martyrs, 38054 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

Corresponding author: J. P. Berger, jberger@cfa.harvard.edu

Received: 16 May 2001
Accepted: 18 July 2001

Abstract

We present in this paper the astronomical validation of a new approach to interferometric starlight combination. Using integrated optics technologies developed by the telecommunication industry, we have implemented optical circuits on coin-size chips that combine two beams and provide simultaneous photometric calibration signals. We report the first interferometric observations of stars using such beam combiners at the Infrared Optical Telescope Array (IOTA). This result opens the way to a new generation of miniaturized, high performance, and reliable instruments, dedicated to interferometric aperture synthesis.