天文光子学研究现状及其应用展望

Research Status and Application Prospects of Astrophotonics

天文学是一门观测学科,其发展受观测技术及仪器进步所推动,而天文科学发展同样不断对观测仪器提出新的要求.天文学发展至今,对观测仪器的要求逐渐走向极致和极端,这在实现成本及难度两方面均带来极大挑战.为应对上述挑战,基于新原理、新技术的下一代天文光学技术及观测仪器已成为天文学发展的内在需要.近年来,集成光子学的发展为天文光学技术带来了新的变革性机遇,在此基础上产生的新兴交叉学科天文光子学(Astrophotonics)可为天文观测提供低成本、高度集成化(芯片化)的新一代高性能光学终端仪器,这类仪器将在空间天文观测、大规模光谱巡天、高分辨高精度光谱成像等应用中起到关键作用.主要从仪器/器件功能出发介绍天文光子学主要研究内容及现状,并简要讨论其发展所面临的主要问题,最后对其发展趋势做出展望.

Astronomy is an observational discipline,and its improvement is driven by the progress of observation technology and instruments.The advancement of astronomy also constantly puts forward new requirements for observation instruments.Since the development of astronomy,the requirements for observing instruments have gradually become extreme,which brings great challenges in both cost and difficulty.In order to tackle the challenges,a future generation of astronomical optical technology and observation instruments based on new principles and technologies has become an inherent need to promote the advancement of astronomy.In recent years,the growth of integrated photonics has presented revolutionary opportunities for that of astronomical optical technology.On the basis,Astrophotonics,an emerging interdisciplinary subject,can provide a new generation of high-performance optical terminal instruments with low cost and high integration(chip-based)for astronomical observation.Such instruments will play a vital role in space astronomical observation,large-scale spectral survey,high-resolution and high-precision spectral imaging and other applications.This paper mainly introduces the main research contents and status quo of astronomical photonics starting from the instruments/device functions,and briefly discusses the major problems in its development and eventually forecasts its development prospect.