The Penn State Pathfinder is a prototype warm fiber-fed Echelle spectrograph with a Hawaii-1 NIR detector that has already demonstrated 7-10 m/s radial velocity precision on integrated sunlight. The Pathfinder testbed was initially setup for the Gemini PRVS design study to enable a systematic exploration of the challenges of achieving high radial velocity precision in the near-infrared, as well as to test possible solutions to these calibration challenges. The current version of the Pathfinder has an R3 echelle grating, and delivers a resolution of R~50,000 in the Y, J or H bands of the spectrum. We will discuss the on sky-performance of the Pathfinder during an engineering test run at the Hobby Eberly Telescope as well the results of velocity observations of M dwarfs. We will also discuss the unique calibration techniques we have explored, like Uranium-Neon hollow cathode lamps, notch filter, and modal noise mitigation to enable high precision radial velocity observation in the NIR. The Pathfinder is a prototype testbed precursor of a cooled high-resolution NIR spectrograph capable of high radial velocity precision and of finding low mass planets around mid-late M dwarfs.

Date Published: 20 July 2010
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 7735, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy III, 773571 (20 July 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.857502

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7735:
Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy III
Ian S. McLean; Suzanne K. Ramsay; Hideki Takami, Editor(s)