Full integrated beam combiner instrument based on SWIFTS concept

摘要

We present how photonics associated with new arising detection technologies is able to provide fully integratedinstrument for interferometric beam combination. The feasibility and operation of on-chip beam combiners havebeen demonstrated now according to various combination schemes. More recently we have proposed a noveldetection principle that allows to directly sample and extract the spectral information of the incoming opticalsignal together with the flux level measurement. The so-called SWIFTS concept that stands for Stationary-WaveIntegrated Fourier Transform Spectrometer, is able to provide the full spectral and spatial information recordedsimultaneously thanks to a motionless detecting device. Throughout the newly available detection principle that could be considered for SWIFTS implementation,some technologies are even able to provide photo-counting operation that may bring a significant extension ofthe astrophysical domain of investigation of interferometry. The proposed new concept is applicable either to afringe tracker instrument with fast and sensitive capabilities, or to a dispersive instrument with high spectralresolution capabilities.