Supercontinuum Waveguides for Extreme Radial-Velocity Instrumentation

We are proposing Supercontinuum Waveguides for Extreme Radial-Velocity Instrumentation (SWERVI). The SWERVI platform will be an integrated-photonics subsystem for the calibration of current and next-generation astronomical spectrographs with precision-radial velocity (PRV) sensitivity lt;10?cm/s. The proposed module will use nonlinear nanophotonic waveguides to efficiently and controllably broaden the optical spectrum of an input frequency comb laser, to serve as the broadband calibration source in PRV measurements. The key innovations we will demonstrate in Phase 1 include: multi-stage broadening in high-nonlinearity tantala (Ta2O5), two-channel output to support self-referencing of the frequency comb, and high-average-power handling through robust packaging. When coupled with a high-repetition-rate comb source, the SWERVI system will enable new PRV calibration sources with spectral coverage virtually anywhere in the visible and near-infrared, while reducing power consumption and complexity through photonic integration. This system addresses a critical technology gap for extreme PRV measurements to detect and study exoplanets. Beyond PRV instrumentation, further development and commercialization of this nonlinear integrated-photonics platform will enable new capabilities in terrestrial and space-borne applications, such as atmospheric spectroscopy, precision timing and navigation, and optical communications.