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J. Ge, D. Ciarlo, P. Kuzmenko, C. Alcock, B. Macintosh, C. Max, W. van Breugel, K. Cook, D. Gavel, S. Olivier, H. Friedman (LLNL), R. Angel, N. Woolf, M. Lloyd-Hart, D. McCarthy (UA), R. Fugate (SOR), J. Najita (NOAO), J.R. Graham (UCB)
We report on developments of two next generation ground-based very high resolution optical and IR spectrographs for sensitive extra-solar planet searches (Ge et al. 1999, SPIE, 3762). A near single-mode fiber-fed very high-resolution optical cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph with adaptive optics has been developed at Steward Observatory. Initial lab tests demonstrate that it provides R = 200,000 in the optical wavelengths (0.35-1.1 \mum) and less than 2% stray light. It can also cover about 4000 Å\ in a single exposure with a 2k\times4k CCD detector. A very high resolution IR cross-dispersed immersion echelle spectrograph, LLNL IR Immersion Spectrograph (LISPEC), is being developed at LLNL. It aims at reaching spectral resolution R = 200,000 in the IR (1.3-5.5 \mum) with silicon immersion echelle gratings coupled with adaptive optics. The immersion echelles are being developed in the Microtechnology center at LLNL.
The combination of very high optical and IR spectral resolution (R ~ 200,000) and simultaneous large wavelength coverage with the fiber-fed optical AO spectrograph and LISPEC allows simultaneous observations of a large number of stellar absorption lines. The observations provide unprecedented sensitivity for potentially detecting small extra-solar planets through measuring stellar absorption line centroid shifts and simultaneously studying stellar activity through monitoring absorption line profile variation. Very high-resolution IR spectroscopy further allows detection of potential molecular emission lines associated with newly formed giant planets for studying young planet formation process.
LISPEC is supported by the LLNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) through grant 99-FS-004. The fiber-fed AO high resolotion spectrograph is supported by NASA grant through NAG5-7200 and NSF grant through AST9731176
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