We conduct an extensive numerical study to single out the best performing rectangular array of evanescently coupled waveguides (discrete beam combiner) that can be used as an integrated optic beam combiner for 6-telescopes at once. We found that the performance of a discrete beam combiner only depends on the conditioning of the Visibility to Pixel Matrix (V2PM) describing it. However, we found that the condition number of V2PM pertaining to different beam combiner architectures cannot be compared. We further report on the possible input waveguide configuration of an 8-telescope discrete beam combiner featuring 8x8 or 9x9 waveguides.

Date Published: 4 August 2016
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 9907, Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging V, 990733 (4 August 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2232329

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9907:
Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging V
Fabien Malbet; Michelle J. Creech-Eakman; Peter G. Tuthill, Editor(s)