OHANA PROJECT PLAN ------------------ Draft - April 12, 2000 INTRODUCTION ------------ OHANA is the Hawaiian word for family. It has been adopted as an acronym for the Optical Hawaiian Array for Nanoradian Astronomy. The OHANA concept calls for the linkage of existing Mauna Kea telescopes with optical fiber to create an optical interferometer with a unique combination of sensitivity and angular resolution. The available baselines are a factor of 6 greater than in any other large unit-telescope interferometer. By way of example, at 1 micron the array will reach angular resolutions of 0.3 milliarcseconds, and will partially resolve (characterize the size) of sources as small as 30 microarcseconds. These are typical likely apparent dimensions of accretion disks in a variety of environments. The high leverage of employing the world's largest telscopes with the largest interferometric baselines motivates the OHANA consortium to undertake a three phase project to prepare, demonstrate and implement optical interferometry among the Mauna Kea ohana of telescopes. In Phase 1, a number of technical tests and demonstrations will be carried out to show clearly the feasibility and cost of OHANA. In Phase 2, a demonstration of fiber-linked interferometry between two existing Mauna Kea telescopes will be prepared, and one or more science demonstration projects will be carried out. In Phase 3, an OHANA facility suitable for substantial science programs will be defined and implemented. The concept embodied in OHANA has been discussed in various places for many years, most extensively in Mariotti et al (ref). Over time, three major critical concerns have been recognized. These are: fiber availability and related dispersion and efficiency issues; a cost-effective and feasible delay line concept; and the need to coordinate facilities under completely independent ownership and scientific management. The first two of these are technical problems, for which solutions are offered here. The third concern is addressed directly by the coordination and cooperation of four major Mauna Kea organizations in the OHANA project. The following pages present the scientific and technical cases for OHANA, Phases 1 and 2, and the strategy for studying and preparing the case for Phase 3. The technical issues are addressed in sufficient detail to show that cost-effective solutions, already in hand, ensure achievement of OHANA's scientific potential. THE SCIENTIFIC CASE FOR LARGE APERTURE - LARGE BASELINE INTERFEROMETRY ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Optical interferometry has advanced well beyond the prototype stage, with array projects like IOTA, NPOI and PTI churning out both technical demonstrations and scientific results. The construction of the first generation of observatory user facilities (some derived from former prototype arrays) is well under way. GI2T, ISI, CHARA, Keck and VLTI are bringing on-line a growing observational capability, with more and larger telescopes, larger selection of baselines, and increasingly sensitive and capable instruments. The future of optical interferometry can be reasonably foreseen to evolve in the direction of more capable arrays in the future, some general purpose and some specialized. Some will develop from current facilities, and some will be undertaken as new initiatives. Current programs will execute increasingly varied and sophisticated observations. Initially, these will be almost exclusively observations of stars and circumstellar phenomena, but increasingly, optical interferometry will be extended to extragalactic targets. The extension to increasingly faint and complex sources will push the capability of existing arrays to their limit, and steadily improve our understanding of the motivation and requirements for next-generation array facilities. The Keck and VLTI will provide a critical capability with large aperture telescopes operating on baselines up to about 200 meters. It is likely, however, that this baseline will be insufficient to even partially resolve many important types of sources. Examples are accretion disks around interacting binary stars, young stellar objects, and AGN's. The existing selection of telescopes on Mauna Kea offers a unique scientific and technical opportunity, with multiple telescopes of 3.5 to 10 meter aperture, and a variety of baselines from 50 to 1000 meters. This selection of telescopes and baselines could not reasonably be proposed as a dedicated interferometer test facility, did it not exist already. But given its existence, is is possible to exploit it for its unique capabilities, not currently planned for any other interferometer. ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI (Olivier - update, complete). Models for the interior structure and physics of Seyfert nuclei are varied, but they share several features. There is a central continuum source (possibly an accretion disk), of typical dimension less than 0.1 pc. There is a surrounding, clumpy broad line region (BLR) up to about 1 pc in size. On a still larger scale, there is an obscuring region usually called the dusty torus, which may in fact be an extension of the accretion disk structure. According to the unified AGN model, viewing geometry is a major factor in the appearance and empirical classification of AGNs. For type 1 Seyfert galaxies, the continuum region is viewed from high latitude above the torus, with access to direct emission from the BLR. In cases with no evidence for obscuration by the torus, the source may be described as a ``bare AGN''. Some models require distributed or multiple component continuum sources (Blandford, 1990) which might be resolved directly by OHANA.. The central regions of QSOs are understood to resemble Seyfert nuclei, but on a larger, more powerful scale. The BLR in QSOs is believed to have a dimension of order 10 pc. At the distance of nearby QSOs, OHANA should resolve the BLR. YOUNG STELLAR OBJECT ACCRETION DISKS (Catherine - update, complete) Accretion in the protostellar and early YSO stages may be inaccessible to direct optical observations due to high extinction in the surrounding molecular clouds, and perhaps in the disk itself. However, it may be possible to catch accretion disks under special circumstances, after the extinction has been reduced by evolution or transient processes. The YSO FU Ori is visible through negligible extinction, and may have such an accretion disk (Bell, 1994). The OHANA angular resolution will be approximately equal to the stellar diameter. At this time it is not clear to what extent details of the structure and kinematics of an optically thick accretion disk may in some cases be discerned from an out-of-plane angle. Models (Bouvier, 1994) clearly show that high angular resolution will be the key to distinguishing centrally localized viscous heating and reprocessing emissions (inside 1-10 AU) from the broadly diffused scattering fluxes (100 AU). OHANA resolution of 0.04 AU ($\le$ R*) is well suited for studying the innermost accretion zone. INTERACTING BINARY STAR ACCRETION DISKS (???? - update, complete) The many types of interacting binaries offer almost unlimited opportunities for interferometric study. The most important to astronomy are probably those which demonstrate processes of wide generality. For example bipolar outflow and/or jets are observed in red giants, protoplanetary nebulae and planetary nebulae, symbiotic stars, cataclysmic variables and novae (Cohen, 1986). Cataclysmic variables have broad, single peaked emission lines similar to those of AGNs (Chiang, 1997) and the study of wind driving mechanisms in CVs may advance the understanding of winds in AGNs. For example, the prototypical CV U Gem has Roche lobe, disk and orbit diameters on the order of the solar radius (Cherepachchuk, 1996). At its distance of about 100 pc, OHANA could resolve the binary orbit, and partially resolve the diameters of the components mentioned, thus allowing model dependent measurement of the systems physical dimensions. (Baselines much longer than 1000 meters would be required to resolve accretion flow details.) The binary SS433 is well known for extreme kinematic and energetic behavior associated with precessing jets which are believed to originate in a relativistic accretion disk. This perhaps unique galactic object offers a rare view of physical processes in a relatively nearby, highly observable, relativistic source. VLBI observations (Vermeulen, 1993) reach to the 10 milliarcsec (50 AU) level, which is insufficient to resolve the Roche lobe, the accretion disk, or the binary separation. According to both neutron star and black hole models (Fukue, 1992) all of these should be detected and partially resolved with OHANA. THE OHANA OPPORTUNITY IN THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT -------------------------------------------------- The interferometric facilities most similar to OHANA are of course the Keck and VLTI observatories. For reference, we note here the initial characteristics of the Keck and VLTI facilities as interferometric arrays, and the potential characteristics of OHANA in Phase 3. Characteristic Keck VLTI OHANA Number of 3-10 meter apertures 2 4 6 Number of 1.8 meter apertures 4 3 Number of baselines 15 Moveable ATs 15 Maximum large-aperture baseline 75 m 130 m 800 m With respect to a dedicated very large optical array, the Keck and VLTI have sevral significant short-comings. These are: the small number of telescopes and the limited snapshot imaging capability; the small maximim baselines; and the limited access to the large aperture telescopes due to competition for general astronomy access by large user communities. In the case of the Keck, the expected NASA priority of interferometer use for focussed mission science is also an important limitation. OHANA will address one of these limitations - the limitation to short baselines. OHANA will offer baselines up to 4X the VLTI maximum, and up to 6X the longest Keck baseline. As described above, this resolution range extends interferometry into an important parameter space for astrophysical studies in both galactic and extragalactic science. OHANA will provide a unique augmentation to both Keck and VLTI interferometric operation. By offering a selection of larger baselines, with the highest senstivity, OHANA will bear a relationship to these arrays analagous to that of the early ad hoc VLBI to the VLA, by augmenting the imaging capability with partial coverage of higher spatial frequencies. The requirement for coordinated allocation of major telescopes ensures that OHANA will only be utilized for the highest priority, most unique science programs. The participation of astronomers from both the Keck and the VLTI communities ensures close communication on OHANA issues of mutual interest. Concurrently with actual science operation, OHANA will prepare the ground for planning of future interferometric arrays. Reconnaissance in key science araeas, such as those mentioned above, is needed to determine characteristic dimensions, complexity, and variability, in order to adequately define the science driven requirements for a very large optical array. Preliminary visibility measurements will also provide critical information pertaining to the phasing of an array on various types of sources - a problem which does not arise in radio interferometry. A TECHNICAL OVERVIEW -------------------- The technical readiness for OHANA is good, and Phase 1 ane 2 can be undertaken immediately with full confidence of success. The feasibility of Phase 3 is also not in doubt, though a number of trade studies are still needed in the conceptual design stage. OPTICAL FIBER AVAILABILITY AND ISSUES The most demanding materials requirement for OHANA is the availability of suitable phase-preserving fibers. The most demanding instrumental requirement is the injection of light from an astronomical source into these fibers. As will be seen below, these problems have been resolved. Optical fibers for interferometry have profited from more than a decade of development. Silica fibers, drawn from a substantial communication industry heritage, have been studied at the University of Limoges, and the basic problems of injection and control have been mastered. Fluoride fibers, which do not have a similar large commercial market, have been developed in France within an industry-university collaboration, and implemented successfully at the IOTA interferometer in Arizona. Both types of fiber have been extensively characterized, and are now available with material properties that permit them to be used for low-loss, phase-preserving light transmission over hundreds of meters. Silica fibers (Francois Reynaud - prepare this section - add information on availability of fibers in various lengths, matching of lengths for 2 or more fibers, matching of dispersion characteristics, polarization, cost, etc, for fiber lengths of 10s, 100s and 1000+ meters) Fluoride fibers (Guy - prepare this section - add information on availability of fibers in various lengths, matching of lengths for 2 or more fibers, matching of dispersion characteristics, polarization, cost, etc, for fiber lengths of 10s, 100s and 1000+ meters) ADAPTIVE OPTICS SYSTEMS AND FIBER INJECTION The efficiency of light injection into a single-mode fiber is given by the product of a geometric constant of order 0.7 times the Strehl ratio. The Strehl ratio of a seeing-limited telescope is low, and the seeing-limited operation of OHANA would not be interesting. However, adaptive optics technology has made great progress during the last decade. With its capability to increase Strehl ratios to of order 0.5 and higher in the infrared, AO promises to enable high fiber injection efficiency. Following the rapid success of natural guide star AO, it has been, or will be, installed at all major Mauna Kea telescopes. The operation of AO with fiber injection in not difficult to describe and understand. Furthermore, on-telescope and on-sky tests of AO fiber injection have been carried out at ESO. Nevertheless, this is a critical, telescope-specific part of OHANA. Therefore, fiber injection at each OHANA member telescope AO system will be part of the technical demonstration program planned for Phase 1. On-sky measurements will be made of injection efficiency and telescope + AO photometric noise power spectrum. In phase 2, the fraction of coherent energy will be confirmed. GENERIC DESCRIPTION OF AO OPERATION WITH FIBER (Vincent) AO systems on each telescope (Olivier) Limiting magnitude for on-axis source Strehl vs wavelength, magnitude AO fiber injection tests (Vincent) Tests at ESO Test unit planned for Phase 1 BEAM COMBINING LABORATORY (Olivier) OHANA requires a laboratory space of order 10 m in size or larger, in order to allow for the required optical delay. It would be unrealistic to construct such a facility on Mauna Kea for Phase 2 tests. Fortunately, a nearly ideal laboratory is available at the CFHT facility. The location is a coude area. Its floor is supported by the telescope pier. It is thermally and acoustically quiet. The CFHT is not centrally located with respect to the other telescopes, but with the low fiber losses, there is no significant penalty for the location. Further, the location is almost ideally placed with respect to the existing network of underground utility conduits which would be the natural path for OHANA fibers. Location Description Infrastructure improvements needed FIBER ROUTING (Olivier) Optical fiber offers great simplification in transporting light from a telescope to a fixed instrument, as it eliminates the requirement for mechanically and optically complex coude systems. However, in the case of single mode fibers, the polarization characteristics can be changed by bending and twisting stresses, thus the routing of the fiber from telescope to pier must be planned with care. Existing cable wraps may be satisfactory, but must be examined and possibly tested in each case. Hence cable-wrap tests are part of the OHANA Phase 1 program. CFHT - from telescope to pier to lab Gemini - from telescope to pier out of the building Keck - from telescope to pier out of the building Between buildings Cable-ways - ownership, access, physical conditions Into the beam combination lab Optical delay The matching of optical delay in OHANA must in general provide for equal delay in vacuum, fiber and air. To accomplish this, four separate delay sections are planned, though several may be dispensed with for the Phase 2 demonstration, provided observations are limited to a range of sky positions. The general solution, however, can be expected to include a section of stretchable fiber, which is adjusted to compensate for temperature drifts, a section of selectable segment vacuum delay, a section of selectable air delay (which may be matched and fixed at each participating telescope), and a continuously variable delay, which may be in air or vacuum, depending on the degree of dispersion compensation desired. Fiber delay (Vincent) The method of adjusting delay by stretching fiber is well developed in integrated optics, and has been demonstrated in both silica and fluoride fibers (refs). For fiber lengths up to 1000 meters, typical optical length variations will be in the vicinity of up to 1 centimeter per degree Kelvin. With reasonable balancing of outdoor and indoor paths on different fiber sections, the required total fiber stretch will be less than 1 meter. For a typical allowed stretch of 1%, a 100 meter fiber length on a piezo cylinder or other stretching mechanism will suffice. An alternative to stretching is the use of temperature control to stabilize fiber lengths. This has been demonstrated in silica fibers (ref) with techniques which could be extended to fluoride fibers. However, a full implementation of fiber delay matching can await Phase 3. For Phase 2 tests, limited fiber lengths and passive compensation will probably suffice. Vacuum segmented delay (Steve) A telescope separation of 800 meters will require approxmately 400 meters of vacuum delay, alternately selectable to one telescope or the other, in order to compensate the optical delay down to the horizon. Providing this delay classically in a double pass cavity would entail huge faciilty costs and probably insuperable site impact. However, a simple approach can suffice. Many-passes in a limited space can have tolerable losses. For example, with a 10 meter basic cavity length, 400 meters of delay can be reached with 40 reflections. In a vacuum, evaporated metal coatings will stay near optimum reflectivity. With gold coatings, the throughput at 2 microns would be 78%. With silver coatings, the throughput at 1.2 microns would be 59%. Of course, most interferometer operation would be with much smaller delays (often near zero) and a basic cavity length greater than 10 meters might be considered, further increasing the mean efficiency. However, dichroic enhanced coatings probably should not be used, due to less favorable phase delay characteristics. A technical report with additional details about physical configuration and phase delay control is available (Ridgway, 2000). A full segmented vacuum delay would only be required in Phase 3. For Phase 2, a small number of fixed air segments could be employed, with limited sky coverage. Continuous delay (Steve) Construction of continuous delay lines is a well-developed technology. Recent major interferometer projects (NPOI, CHARA, Keck) have employed delay line designs which grew out of the PTI and/or MkIII delay lines. The detailed drawings are available from JPL for the cost of reproduction. For Phase 3, a dedicated OHANA implementation would be expected. For Phase 2, there are several simpler possible appraoches, depending on resources. It may be possible to borrow moderate travel delay lines (eg, from the old MkIII). Finally, it would be possible to dispense with continuously controlled delay, and implement a step and hold operation, as in IOTA and the early FLUOR, allowing earth rotation to scan through the OPD. Air delay (Steve) As the various telescopes have different sizes and designs, the air path within each will be a site-dependent quantity. It is easy to compensate this, so that all telescopes have equal air delay, and this may be desired for Phase 3. For Phase 2, air path equalization can be dispensed with, at the price of slightly enhanced dispersion in the infrared, or in the visible by implementing independent dispersion compensation, by employing increased spectral resolution, by limiting sky coverage to near-transit, or some combination of these. DISPERSION COMPENSATION (Vincent) Variable light travel speed in media, whether air or glass, introduces differential phase delay which varies with wavelength. As long as this is identical in the feeds from all telescopes, the zero OPD will still coincide for all wavelengths. If the optical paths are not matched in each medium, the interference pattern will be "chirped", with a wavelength dependent OPD. The most satisfactory solution is to match the OPD in each medium, hence the plan, above, for: matched fiber lengths, including active tuning of the lengths for balance; matched air paths; and matched vacuum paths. However, for various reasons, the ideal of equal material paths may not be achieved. Additional dispersion compensation can be achieved by introducing a variable thickness of a glass, chosen for its dispersion characteristics. This is a standard technique in optical interferometry, and is currently in use at NPOI and SUSI. However, under some circumstances it may be dispensed with. With increasing spectral resolution, and decreased bandwidth per detector pixel, the tolerance to dispersion increases approximately as the resolution. The dispersion effect is systematic, and modest dispersion can be removed numerically, provided the loss of fringe modulation is not so severe as to reduce detectability of the source. For Phase 2, no automatic or continuously updated dispersion compensation will be provided. for Phase 3, the requirement will be determined based on experience in Phase 2 and at other interferometers. POLARIZATION (????) Polarization must be preserved in interferometry. In most interferometers, use of identical components greatly simplifies the matching of beam polarization and dispersion. For OHANA, with a heterogeneous collection of telescopes, it will be necessary to ensure consistent polarization properties prior to injection in the fibers. Even in an ideal, homogeneous fiber, polarization rotation and mixing may occur due to inhomogeneous stresses of curvature and twist. The polarization characteristics specific to silica and fluoride fibers are discussed above. With moderate fiber lengths, the polarization axes may be rotated by mechanically adjusting the fiber, and mixing can be suppressed (with some loss of efficiency) with polarizing filters. Laboratory tests are required to determine the adequacy of these techniques for the long fiber segments needed for OHANA. Discussion of birfringence? Alternatively, polarization preserving fibers may be employed. These are more expensive. In order to avoid 50% loss of light, it would be necessary to introduce polarization splitting and separate light channels, which would add complexity and cost. Thus there are several possible solutions of increasing performance and cost. For Phase 2, standard non-polarization perserving fibers should be adequate, perhaps with polarization filtering and some sensitivity loss. The polarization changes within fibers constrained to run through existing cable-wraps and conduits will be studied. For Phase 3, an approach will be designed based on experience with the required long fiber segments. METROLOGY Since matched fiber lengths will be used to join each telescope to the beam combining laboratory, no metrology of this length will be required. In order to properly configure the optical delay, it will be necessary to determine the optical path from the vertex of each telescope to the focus of the AO module. This will probably require a combination of on-site measurements and reference to engineering drawings. The support of each observatory will be critical for this activity. While it is difficult to generalize, it seems safe to suppose that this metrology can be achieved to the level of 10 cm or better. In addition, the relative positions of the telescope vertices will be needed, in three dimensions. Due to the varying construction dates, it may be difficult to confirm consistency to a common grid. In that case, an excellent survey technique for nearby facilities on an irregular terrain is the use of differential satellite ranging, which provides measurements to the few mm level. Finally, the optical paths in the laboratory must be determined, including the path through the delay line. This can be measured by conventional means, or readily with a laser ranging meter, to a few mm. Considering the various error sources, it should be easy to place the optical delay withing 25 cm of the ZPD With AO stabilized starlight, we can be confident that the ZPD fringes will be detected in a single scan of the optical delay, of probable length no greater than 50 cm. With a typical 2 micron fringe rate of 500 Hz, this will require no more than 10 minutes. This will determine the "magic constant", reducing the uncertainty in ZPD position to a small range. A few additional fringe detections around the sky will quickly determine the baseline vector in three dimensions. An existing software package (Wallace, 2000) can be used to determine any telescope dependence of the effective baseline calculation. This process will be repeated for each telescope added to the array, but should not be needed for every possible baseline provided by the new telescope. FIELD OF VIEW ( Guy?) BEAM MIXING OPTIONS Numerous beam combination schemes have been demonstrated and exploited at interferometer prototype facilities. A classical Michelson style, two beam pupil plane combiner would be possible, and for some groups would be the most simple. Image plane combination, with or without spectral dispersion, has been employed at several interferometers. The OHANA team has extensive experience in fiber and integrated optics, in which pupil and image plane are not distinguished. The beam combination means already well established for single-mode interferometry are well matched to the OHANA requirements. Fiber combiner (Guy) One option, already developed and demonstrated for the two-telescope case, will be a FLUOR-style fiber beam combiner, utilizing three X-couplers for two-telescope interferometry with photometric calibration (ref). Single-coupler combiner concept (Guy) New method for obtaining photometric calibration with one coupler and a second beam-combination stage. Integrated combiner (Pierre K.) Alternatively, integrated single mode optics are now available with impressive characteristics, in some ways superior to fiber couplers, and with a capability for ready extension to a larger number of telescopes. An integrated combiner could be employed in Phase 2, and more certainly in Phase 3. Multiwavelength operation (???) With single fibers and multiple fibers. OPTICAL PATH SCANNING OPTIONS (Steve) Several OPD scanning techniques are available. The simplest, employed at the IRMA interferometer and early FLUOR, consists of a step and pause delay line, with earth rotation scanned OPD. This is a technique of limited flexibiilty and low efficiency, but allows the use of a very inexpensive continuous delay line. A more satisfactory technique is the continuous tracking delay line with sawtooth scanning of the OPD around the ZPD. This scheme is used currently at, for example, IOTA FLUOR, CHARA. It may be generalized to encode several baselines simultaneously, as at COAST. This scheme requires a continuous, accurate and smoothly tracking delay line, whose availability is well established as described earlier. SCIENCE DETECTOR (Pierre, Olivier, Francois Roddier, ....) Optical interferometers natural profit from the most sensitive available detectors. Today, the most sensitive infrared detectors are array detectors with 10e5 or more pixels. Ironically, an interferometer typically needs only a few or a few tens of these pixels. In many detector types, however, this allows the rapid readout (hundreds of Hertz) of the pixels utilized. There is no reason for the OHANA detector to be highly integrated into the beam combination scheme, and in fact it is natural for the beam combiner to form an image outside the combiner envelope where it can be detected with an independent camera. It is thus reasonable to consider part-time utilization of a detector from another instrument - perhaps one which would be excluded from operation while OHANA was in use. OHANA would also be an opportunity to exploit a developmental detector system in a detector-friendly, laboratory environment. Discussions are underway with D. Hall of the IFA, concerning new detectors currently under development at Rockwell, with very low (few e- noise) in the near-IR. These detectors are optimized for wavefront sensing, and would be well-suited for OHANA as fringe-tracking and/or science detectors. For use from the visible to approximately 1 micron, CCD detectors can be employed as described above for infrared detectors. An alternative is the use of low noise APD's, which offer a well-developed, single-pixel technology in a convenient instrumental package. THROUGHPUT, STREHL, AND PREDICTED PERFORMANCE (Steve, ????) In Phase 2, OHANA will be phased by reference to the source itself, hence limited by the number of photons in a coherence volume (ref). In Phase 3, dual beam capability for offset phasing may be added, allowing interferometric observation of much fainter sources, but with reduced sky coverage. Self-phased Performance Limits In an initial, single beam implementation, the limiting sensitivity of OHANA will be determined exactly as is the limiting sensitivity of most existing optical interferometers - this is by the requirement that the number of detected photons in a coherence volume should give a sufficient signal-to-noise to provide the feedback information needed to keep the OPD within the coherence envelope. The OHANA sensitivity computation may be conveniently separated into two parts. The first is the delivered Strehl for the telescope-AO system, and the second is the efficiency for the telescope-AO-fiber-interferometry system. The AO performance is estimated based on an assumed Strehl at 2.2 microns of S = 0.5. This performance is then scaled to other wavelengths using the Marechal approximation, which is a good predictor for coherent energy, which deviates from the Strehl ratio for small values. Two approaches have been taken to estimating the telescope-AO-fiber-interferometry efficiency. First, an empirical approach has been used, based on the measured sensitivity of the IOTA FLUOR interferometer, which is very similar in functionality to OHANA Phase 2. A model has been developed for the IOTA sensitivity, including explicitly the atmosphere and telescope dependence, and adjusting an empirical "efficiency" factor until the model agrees with the FLUOR experience. In fact, this gave an "efficiency" for FLUOR of about 4%. The parameters of the model were then adjusted to the OHANA case, but with an additional 2X reduction in efficiency, in order ensure a conservative estimate. Second, a bottoms-up efficiency budget was created for OHANA. This is based on ideal fiber injection efficiency and standard handbook efficiencies for clean coatings, hence should represent an upper limit to the efficiency estimate. The actual performance is likely to be somewhere between the two estimates. Throughput budget - good, average, poor seeing Strehl budgets Signal-to-noise calculation (Following is the calculation presented in Waimea, pending replacement with an update.) A sensitivity model was first devised for FLUOR/IOTA, computing the number of detected photons per time constant per bandpass. The actual observing limits at K were used to adjust the efficiency so that the model was an accurate predictor of performance at K. (The derived efficiency was 0.04.) The assumed Strehl for IOTA at K was 1.0. The appropriate parameters were then scaled to an 8 meter aperture. The collecting area was increased, scaling from 0.4 to 8 meters. The time constant was increased, by the ratio 8/0.4, to account for the slower evolution of the piston term and the longer allowed intergration time. The Strehl factor for K was set to 0.6. The efficiency was reduced by an additional factor of 2X, to 0.02. This is believed to give a very conservative estimate of sensitivity. The IOTA/FLUOR beam combiner has a very low efficiency of 0.25, which can be improved when replaced, and the detectors described below have approximately 10X lower noise than the IOTA/FLUOR detectors. For the thermal IR, the IOTA sensitivity limits were assumed to be L = -1 and M = -4. These were scaled by the aperture area (i.e. assuming that the thermal background on the detector is independent of aperture), and by the square root of the integration time (since the observation is background-limited). The assumed coherent energy fraction: V 0.01 R 0.02 I 0.05 J 0.21 H 0.41 K 0.61 L 0.85 M 0.93 N 0.98 Q 0.99 The derived limiting OHANA sensitivities for 8m apertures are: V 10 R 10 I 11 J 12 H 12 K 12 L 7 M 4 Note the interesting result that, although OHANA is conceived as a near-infrared array, it would appear to offer the most sensitive optical interferometer in the world, from V to M bands, if available today. Of course, other better optimized facilities should eventually take the lead in sensitivity at short and long wavelengths. The calculation above presents estimates of the limiting magnitude for OHANA observations, but this does not imply that observations of sources at the limiting magnitude will necessarily have low signal-to-noise. Due to the required short time constant in a coherence volume, continued integration will very quickly build up signal-to-noise. For example, if the S/N is 5 in 0.01 second (typical in FLUOR faint-source observations), it would increase to 500 in 100 seconds. It is in this sense that all interferometry employing on-source phasing is bright-source interferometry. Dual-beam Performance Limits (Steve) CALIBRATION OF VISIBILITIES --------------------------- A typical, unreddened K0 star of magnitude K=0 will have an angular diameter of approximately 4.8 milliarcsec (Dyck et al, van Belle). At K=12, such a star will have an apparent diameter of 20 microarcsec, 15X smaller than the OHANA direct resolution limit at 1 micron. Thus there will be an abundance of potential reference sources. Care will be necessary to avoid binaries. PROJECT PARTICIPANTS (Olivier) -------------------- The initial institutional participation in the OHANA committee consists of: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corportation Department Spatial, Observatoire de Paris-Meudon Gemini Observatory Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii W.M. Keck Observatory National Optical Astronomy Observatories The initial committee members are: - Olivier Lai, chairman (CFHT) - Peter Wizinowich (Keck) - Steve Ridgway (NOAO) - Francois Rigaut (Gemini) - Pierre Lena, Guy Perrin (DESPA) - Francois Roddier (IfA) The OHANA committee contact for information is: Olivier Lai, CFHT, P.O. Box 1597, Kamuela, HI 96743, USA. tel (808) 885 7944 fax (808) 885 7288 email: lai@cfht.hawaii.edu PROJECT PLAN AND BUDGET (Guy) -------------------------------- OHANA Kickoff Meeting On March ??, a meeting was held at CFHT headquarters in Waimea to discuss the OHANA concept. By the middle of the second day, the participants agreed to undertake preliminary planning, demonstration and tests. The second day gathering thus turned into a kickoff meeting for OHANA, with formulation of the Phase 1 technical plan and preliminary discussion of funding, and general specification of Phase 2 objectives. A tentative schedule for Phase 1 and 2 was also agreed to. Phase 1 plan and budget Minimum goals: - the construction of a prototype beam extractor and its test on the sky to measure injection efficiency and stability with AO. - The evaluation and measurement of routing, bending and twisting impacts on fiber behaviour for the various telescope configurations (Cassegrain, equatorial and alt-az, and Nasmyth on alt-az). - Design of phase 2: science programs, detailed instrumental plan and costing. Phase 2 plan and budget Minimum goals: - Fiber layout from telescope to laboratory with suitable protection (about 300 meter fibers), - Construction of delay lines, possibly of a simple type and limited range to begin with, - Installation of beam combination, detection and control, - Test on the sky, validation of performances and demonstration of significant science on a few objects. Phase 3 plan and budget Minimum goals: - enhanced science capabiilty - more telescope pairs, - extension toward shorter wavelengths, - fringe tracking, - imaging capability. Additional goals: - dual beam extraction and faint objects science. SCHEDULE (Guy, Olivier, Steve) -------- Spring, 2000 - initiate PhD thesis on Phase 1-2; coordinate Phase 1 funding; Summer, 2000 - preliminary site visits; Phase 1 test unit design; Fall, 2000 - initial Mauna Kea on-telescope AO injection tests; fiber wrap-up tests; Spring, 2001 - complete AO on-sky injection tests; laboratory long-fiber tests; conceptual design for Phase 2 instrumentation; Summer, 2001 - prepare proposals for Phase 2; Fall, 2001 - submit Phase 2 proposals; Spring, 2002 - initiate Phase 2 implementation; Spring, 2003 - Phase 2 operational. PROJECT RISKS ------------- As the planning is still at a very early stage, there are numerous "risk" items that are expected to be secured before the project gets very far underway, but these are listed here for completeness. RISK ITEMS AND PLANNED AMELIORATION The cost of dispersion-matched fibers may be high. Prices will be ascertained from vendors as soon as possible. In the case of fluoride fibers, the possibility of a technology development grant will be investigated. The cost of polarization-preserving fibers may be high. Interferometry with non-polarization preserving fibers in lengths of a few tens of meters, works well. In fact, it has been preferred because use of both polarizations has been achieved, maximizing efficiency. Laboratory tests can be carried out with longer fiber pairs, as soon as they are available, to investigate the possibility of using non-polarization preserving fibers for OHANA. Starlight fiber injection efficiencies achieved in practice have been low. This is probably consistent with wavefront quality through the atmosphere with tilt correction only and without AO. Injection efficiency tests will be carried out at Keck, Gemini and CFHT in Phase 1. Phase stability will be confirmed in Phase 2. The infrared detector is a potentially high-cost item if it is necessary to procure a dedicated camera. During Phase 1, a commitment will be sought to provide the IR detection capability by loan of a camera from one of the participant organizations. Telescope access may be problematic if subject to independent TAC processes. The OHANA consortium members will subscribe to a memorandum of understanding, which will commit the members to providing agreed telescope access to accomplish the minimum OHANA goals, subject to appropriate conditions of demonstrated readiness and performance.