Broadband Frequency Comb for Calibration of Astronomical Spectrographs

We present our state-of-the-art version of a frequency comb for calibration of astronomical spectrographs. The mode spacing of the frequency comb can be designed to match the resolution of a spectrograph. Combined with its excellent accuracy and stability, the spectral coverage of more than 70% of the whole visible spectrum range makes the frequency comb an ideal calibration source. In addition, the new version introduces the automatic start-up function that brings convenience to the astronomers.

The Application of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor with Small Electrical Time Constant in Fiber Positioner

With the development of cutting-edge multi-object spectrographs,fiber positioners located in the focal plane are being scaled down in size,and miniature hollow-cup Permanent Magnet motors are now being considered as a suitable replacement for Faulhaber Precistep stepper motors.However,the small electrical time constant of such coreless motors poses a challenge,as the problem of severe commutation torque ripple in a fiber positioner running a position loop has been tricky.To overcome this challenge,it is advised to increase the Pulse Width Modulation(PWM)frequency as much as possible to mitigate the effects of the current fluctuation.This must be done while ensuring adequate resolution of the PWM generator.By employing a voltage open-loop field-oriented control based on a modulation frequency of 1 MHz,the drive current only costs 25 m A under a 3.3 V power supply.The sine degree of phase current is immaculate,and the repeat positioning accuracy can reach 2μm.Moreover,it is possible to further shrink the bill of devices and the layout area of the Printed Circuit Board,especially in sizesensitive applications.This device has been developed under the new generation of The Large Sky Area MultiObject Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope.

The Tianlin Mission:A 6m UV/Opt/IR Space Telescope to Explore Habitable Worlds and the Universe

It is expected that ongoing and future space-borne planet survey missions including Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite(TESS),PLATO and Earth 2.0 will detect thousands of small to medium-sized planets via the transit technique,including over a hundred habitable terrestrial rocky planets.To conduct a detailed study of these terrestrial planets,particularly the cool ones with wide orbits,the exoplanet community has proposed various follow-up missions.The currently proposed European Space Agency mission Ariel is the first step for this purpose,and it is capable of characterization of planets down to warm super-Earths mainly using transmission spectroscopy.The NASA Large Ultraviolet/Optical/Infrared Surveyor mission proposed in the Astro2020 Decadal Survey white paper will endeavor to further identify habitable rocky planets,and is expected to launch around 2045.In the meanwhile,China is funding a concept study of a 6 m class space telescope named Tianlin(a UV/Opt/NIR large aperture space telescope)that aims to start its operation within the next 10–15 yr and last for 5+yr.Tianlin will be primarily aimed at the discovery and characterization of rocky planets in the habitable zones around nearby stars and to search for potential biosignatures mainly using the direct imaging method.Transmission and emission spectroscopy at moderate to high resolution will be carried out as well on a population of exoplanets to strengthen the understanding of the formation and evolution of exoplanets.It will also be utilized to perform in-depth studies of the cosmic web and early galaxies,and constrain the nature of dark matter and dark energy.We describe briefly the primary scientific motivations and main technical considerations based on our preliminary simulation results.We find that a monolithic off-axis space telescope with primary mirror diameter larger than 6 m equipped with a high contrast coronagraph can identify water in the atmosphere of a habitable-zone Earth-like planet around a Sunlike star.More simulations for the detectability of other key biosignatures including O_(3),O_(2),CH_(4)and chlorophyll are coming.

An Exposure Meter of Lijiang Fiber-fed High-Resolution Spectrograph

In 2016,an exposure meter was installed on the Lijiang Fiber-fed High-Resolution Spectrograph to monitor the coupling of starlight to the science fiber during observations.Based on it,we investigated a method to estimate the exposure flux of the CCD in real time by using the counts of the photomultiplier tubes(PMT)of the exposure meter,and developed a piece of software to optimize the control of the exposure time.First,by using flat-field lamp observations,we determined that there is a linear and proportional relationship between the total counts of the PMT and the exposure flux of the CCD.Second,using historical observations of different spectral types,the corresponding relational conversion factors were determined and obtained separately.Third,the method was validated using actual observation data,which showed that all values of the coefficient of determination were greater than 0.92.Finally,software was developed to display the counts of the PMT and the estimated exposure flux of the CCD in real-time during the observation,providing a visual reference for optimizing the exposure time control.

Middle and near ultraviolet spectrograph of the Scientific Experimental system in Near SpacE(SENSE)

The Scientific Experimental system in Near SpacE(SENSE)consists of different types of instruments that will be installed on a balloon-based platform to characterize near-space environmental parameters.As one of the main scientific payloads,the middle and near ultraviolet spectrograph(MN-UVS)will provide full spectra coverage from middle ultraviolet(MUV,200−300 nm)to near ultraviolet(NUV,300−400 nm)with a spectral resolution of 2 nm.Its primary mission is to acquire data regarding the UV radiation background of the upper atmosphere.The MN-UVS is made up of six primary components:a fore-optical module,an imaging grating module,a UV intensified focal plane module,a titanium alloy frame,a spectrometer control module,and a data processing module.This paper presents in detail the engineering design of each functional unit of the MN-UVS,as well as the instrument’s radiometric calibration,wavelength calibration,impact test,and low-pressure discharge test.Furthermore,we are able to report ground test and flight test results of high quality,showing that the MN-UVS has a promising future in upcoming near-space applications.

Lijiang 2.4-meter Telescope and its instruments

The Lijiang 2.4-meter Telescope(LJT), the largest common-purpose optical telescope in China,has been available to the worldwide astronomical community since 2008. It is located at the Gaomeigu site,Lijiang Observatory(LJO), in the southwest of China. The site has very good observational conditions.During its 10-year operation, several instruments have been equipped on the LJT. Astronomers can perform both photometric and spectral observations. The main scientific goals of LJT include recording photometric and spectral evolution of supernovae, reverberation mapping of active galactic nuclei, investigating the physical properties of binary stars and near-earth objects(comets and asteroids), and identification of exoplanets and all kinds of transients. Until now, the masses of 41 high accretion rate black holes have been measured, and more than 168 supernovae have been identified by the LJT. More than 190 papers related to the LJT have been published. In this paper, the general observation conditions of the Gaomeigu site is introduced at first. Then, the structure of the LJT is described in detail, including the optical, mechanical, motion and control system. The specification of all the instruments and some detailed parameters of the YFOSC is also presented. Finally, some important scientific results and future expectations are summarized.

Rapid instrument exchanging system for the Cassegrain focus of the Lijiang 2.4-m Telescope

As a facility used for astronomical research, the Lijiang 2.4-m telescope of Yunnan Astronomical Observatories, requires the ability to change one auxiliary instrument with another in as short a time as possible. This arises from the need to quickly respond to scientific programs （e.g. transient observation, time domain studies） and changes in observation conditions （e.g. seeing and weather conditions）. In this paper, we describe the design, construction and test of hardware and software in the rapid instrument exchange system （RIES） for the Cassegrain focal station of this telescope, which enables instruments to be quickly changed at night without much loss of observing time. Tests in the laboratory and at the telescope show that the image quality and pointing accuracy of RIES are satisfactory. With RIES, we observed the same Landolt standard stars almost at the same time with the Princeton Instruments VersArray 1300B Camera （PICCD） and the Yunnan Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera （YFOSC）, while both were mounted at the Cassegrain focus. A quasi-simultaneous comparison shows that the image quality of the optical system inside the YFOSC is comparable with that provided by the PICCD.

Optical Design of Multilayer Achromatic Waveplate by Simulated Annealing Algorithm

We applied a Monte Carlo method -- simulated annealing algorithm -- to carry out the design of multilayer achromatic waveplate. We present solutions for three-, six- and ten-layer achromatic waveplates. The optimized retardance settings are found to be 89°51′39″ ± 0°33′37″ and 89°54′46″ ± 0°22′4″ for the six- and ten-layer waveplates, respectively, for a wavelength range from 1000 nm to 1800 nm. The polarimetric properties of multilayer waveplates are investigated based on several numerical experiments. In contrast to previously proposed three-layer achromatic waveplate, the fast axes of the new six- and ten-layer achromatic waveplate remain at fixed angles, independent of the wavelength. Two applications of multilayer achromatic waveplate are discussed, the general-purpose phase shifter and the birefringent filter in the Infrared Imaging Magnetograph （IRIM） system of the Big Bear Solar Observatory （BBSO）. We also checked an experimental method to measure the retardance of waveplates.

An Active Flexure Compensation Method for LAMOST spectrograph based on BP-Neural Network

The Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope(LAMOST)is a Chinese national scientific research facility operated by National Astronomical Observatories,Chinese Academy of Sciences(NAOC).The LAMOST survey for the Milky Way Galaxy and extra-galactic objects has been carried out for several years.The accuracies in measuring radial velocity are expected to be 5 km s-1 for the low resolution spectroscopic survey(R=1800),and 1 km s-1 for the medium resolution mode.The stability of spectrograph is the main factor affecting the accuracies in measuring radial velocity,so an Active Flexure Compensation Method(AFCM)based on Back Propagation Neural Network(BPNN)is proposed in this paper.It utilizes a deep BP(4-layer,5-layer etc.)model of thermal-induced flexure to periodically predict and apply flexure corrections by commanding the corresponding tilt and tip motions to the camera.The spectrograph camera system is adjusted so that the positions of these spots match those in a reference image.The simulated calibration of this compensation method analytically illustrates its performance on LAMOST spectrograph.

Sky subtraction for LAMOST

Sky subtraction is a key technique in data reduction of multi-fiber spectra. Knowledge of characteristics related to the instrument is necessary to determine the method adopted in sky subtraction. In this study, we describe the sky subtraction method designed for the Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope （LAMOST） survey. The method has been integrated into the LAMOST 2D Pipeline v2.6 and applied to data from LAMOST DR3 and later. For LAMOST, calibration using sky emission lines is used to alleviate the position-dependent （and thus time-dependent） ,-~ 4% fiber throughput uncertainty and small wavelength instability （0.1/~） during observation. Sky subtraction using principal component analysis （PCA） further reduces 25% of the sky line residual from OH fines in the red part of LAMOST spectra after the master sky spectrum, which is derived from a B-spline fit of 20 sky fibers in each spectrograph. Using this approach, values are adjusted by a sky emission line and subtracted from each fiber. Further analysis shows that our wavelength calibration accuracy is about 4.5 km s-1, and the averages of residuals after sky subtraction are about 3% for sky emission lines and 3% for the continuum region. The relative sky subtraction residuals vary with moonlight background brightness, and can reach as low as 1.5% for regions that have sky emission lines during a dark night. Tests on F stars with both similar sky emission line strength and similar object continuum intensity show that the sky emission line residual of LAMOST is smaller than that of the SDSS survey.

The first observation and data reduction of the Multi-wavelength Spectrometer on the New Vacuum Solar Telescope

The Multi-wavelength Spectrometer is a medium-dispersion（R^130 000）grating spectrometer installed on the New Vacuum Solar Telescope at the Fuxian Solar Observatory,Yunnan Astronomical Observatory,Chinese Academy of Sciences.It is designed to accurately observe the velocity and magnetic fields of the Sun.The present configuration of this spectrometer allows us to simultaneously observe three different solar spectral lines.This work is dedicated to showing the first observations carried out in both the Hαand Ca II 8542 A lines.We give a detailed description of the data reduction process,focusing on the retrieval of a flat field from the high-resolution spectral data.Two different methods are also performed and compared to eliminate the residual fringe in the reduced data.The real spectral resolution and instrumental profile are analyzed based on the final results,which indicate that this spectrometer presently satisfies the expected performance and it is ready for further scientific observations.

A broadband digital receiving system with large dynamic range for solar radio observation

Solar radio spectra and their temporal evolution provide important clues to understand the energy release and electron acceleration process in the corona,and are commonly used to diagnose critical parameters such as the magnetic field strength.However,previous solar radio telescopes cannot provide high-quality data with complete frequency coverage.Aiming to develop a generalized solar radio observing system,in this study,we designed a digital receiving system that could capture solar radio bursts with a broad bandwidth and a large dynamic range.A dual-channel analog-to-digital converter(ADC)printed circuit board assembly(PCBA)with a sampling rate of 14-bit,1.25 Giga samples per second(GSPS)cooperates with the field-programmable-gate-array(FPGA)chip XC7K410T in the design.This receiver could realize the real-time acquisition and preprocessing of high-speed data of up to 5 GB s^(-1),which ensures high time and spectral resolutions in observations.This receiver has been used in the solar radio spectrometer working in the frequency range of 35 to 40 GHz in Chashan Solar Observatory(CSO)established by Shandong University,and will be further developed and used in the solar radio interferometers.The full-power bandwidth of the PCBA in this receiving system could reach up to 1.5 GHz,and the performance parameters(DC–1.5 GHz)are obtained as follows:spur free dynamic range(SFDR)of 64.7–78.4 dB,signal-to-noise and distortion(SINAD)of 49.1–57.2 dB,and effective number of bits(ENOB)of>7.86 bit.Based on the receiver that we designed,real-time solar microwave dynamic spectra have been acquired and more solar microwave bursts with fine spectral structures are hopeful to be detected in the coming solar maximum.

Operating principles and detection characteristics of the Visible and Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer in the Chang'e-3

The Visible and Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer （VNIS）, using two acousto-optic tunable filters as dispersive components, consists of a VIS/NIR imag- ing spectrometer （0.45-0.95 μm）, a shortwave IR spectrometer （0.9-2.4 p.m） and a calibration unit with dust-proofing functionality. The VNIS was utilized to detect the spectrum of the lunar surface and achieve in-orbit calibration, which satisfied the re- quirements for scientific detection. Mounted at the front of the Yutu rover, lunar ob- jects that are detected with the VNIS with a 45° visual angle to obtain spectra and ge- ometrical data in order to analyze the mineral composition of the lunar surface. After landing successfully on the Moon, the VNIS performed several explorations and cal- ibrations, and obtained several spectral images and spectral reflectance curves of the lunar soil in the region of Mare Imbrium. This paper describes the working principle and detection characteristics of the VNIS and provides a reference for data processing and scientific applications.

Study of the continuum removal method for the Moon Mineralogy Mapper(M^3) and its application to Mare Humorum and Mare Nubium

The absorption band center of visible and near infrared reflectance spectra is a key spectral parameter for lunar mineralogical studies, especially for the mafic minerals（olivine and pyroxene） of mare basalts, which have two obvious absorption bands at 1000 nm（Band I） and 2000 nm（Band II）. Removal of the continuum from spectra, which was developed by Clark and Roush and used to isolate the particular absorption feature, is necessary to estimate this parameter. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper（M3） data are widely used for lunar mineral identification. However, M3 data show a residual thermal effect, which interferes with the continuum removal, and systematic differences exist among optical data taken during different optical periods. This study investigated a suitable continuum removal method and compared the difference between two sets of M3 data taken during different optical periods, Optical Period 1B（OP1B）and Optical Period 2A（OP2A）. Two programs for continuum removal are reported in this paper. Generally,a program respectively constructs two straight lines across Band I and Band II to remove the continuum,which is recommended for locating band centers, because it can find the same Band I center with different right endpoints. The optimal right endpoint for continuum removal is mainly dominated by two optical period data at approximately 2480 and 2560 nm for OP1 B and OP2 A data, respectively. The band center values derived from OP1 B data are smaller than those derived from OP2 A data in Band I but larger in Band II, especially for the spectra using longer right endpoints（〉2600 nm）. This may be due to the spectral slopes of OP1 B data being steeper than those of OP2 A data in Band I but gentler in Band II. These results were applied to Mare Humorum and Mare Nubium, and the measurements were found to mainly vary from intermediate- to high-Ca pyroxene.

Method of composing two-dimensional scanned spectra observed by the New Vacuum Solar Telescope

In this paper we illustrate the technique used by the New Vacuum Solar Telescope（NVST）to increase the spatial resolution of two-dimensional（2D）solar spectroscopy observations involving two dimensions of space and one of wavelength.Without an image stabilizer at the NVST,large scale wobble motion is present during the spatial scanning,whose instantaneous amplitude can reach 1.3′′due to the Earth’s atmosphere and the precision of the telescope guiding system,and seriously decreases the spatial resolution of 2D spatial maps composed with scanned spectra.We make the following effort to resolve this problem：the imaging system（e.g.,the Ti O-band）is used to record and detect the displacement vectors of solar image motion during the raster scan,in both the slit and scanning directions.The spectral data（e.g.,the Hαline）which are originally obtained in time sequence are corrected and re-arranged in space according to those displacement vectors.Raster scans are carried out in several active regions with different seeing conditions（two rasters are illustrated in this paper）.Given a certain spatial sampling and temporal resolution,the spatial resolution of the composed 2D map could be close to that of the slit-jaw image.The resulting quality after correction is quantitatively evaluated with two methods.A physical quantity,such as the line-of-sight velocities in multiple layers of the solar atmosphere,is also inferred from the re-arranged spectrum,demonstrating the advantage of this technique.

Photonic lantern with multimode fibers embedded

A photonic lantem is studied which is formed by seven multimode fibers inserted into a pure silica capillary tube. The core of the tapered end has a uniform refractive index because the polymer claddings are removed before the fibers are inserted. Consequently, the light distribution is also uniform.Two theories describing a slowly varying waveguide and multimode coupling are used to analyze the photonic lantern. The transmission loss decreases as the length of the tapered part increases. For a device with a taper length of 3.4 cm, the loss is about 1.06 dB on average for light propagating through the taper from an inserted fiber to the tapered end and 0.99 dB in the reverse direction. For a device with a taper length of 0.7 cm, the two loss values are 2.63 dB and 2.53 dB, respectively. The results show that it is possible to achieve a uniform light distribution with the tapered end and a low-loss transmission in the device if parameters related to the lantern are reasonably defined.

LAMOST medium-resolution spectral survey of Galactic nebulae(LAMOST-MRS-N):subtraction of geocoronal Hαemission

We introduce a method of subtracting geocoronal Hαemissions from the spectra of LAMOST medium-resolution spectral survey of Galactic nebulae(LAMOST-MRS-N).The flux ratios of the Hαsky line to the adjacent OHλ6554 single line do not show a pattern or gradient distribution in a plate.More interestingly,the ratio is well correlated to solar altitude,which is the angle of the Sun relative to the Earth’s horizon.It is found that the ratio decreases from 0.8 to 0.2 with the decreasing solar altitude from–17 to–73 degree.Based on this relation,which is described by a linear function,we can construct the Hαsky component and subtract it from the science spectrum.This method has been applied to the LAMOST-MRSN data,and the contamination level of the Hαsky to nebula is reduced from 40%to less than 10%.The new generated spectra will significantly improve the accuracy of the classifications and the measurements of physical parameters of Galactic nebulae.

A 3 Giga Sample Per Second 14-bit Digital Receiver with 9 GHz Input Bandwidth for Solar Radio Observation

A new digital receiver with excellent performances has been designed and developed for solar radio observation,which can receive the radio signal from direct current(DC)to 9 GHz in the direct acquisition way.On the digital receiver,the analog-to-digital converter(ADC)with 14-bit,two input channels and 3 Giga Samples per second(Gsps)are used to acquire observed signal,and the field-programmable-gate-array chip XCKU115 acts as the processing module.The new digital receiver can be used to directly sample the solar radio signals of frequency under 9 GHz.When receiving the solar radio signal above 9 GHz,the new digital receiver can save 1–2 stages of frequency down-conversion,and effectively improve many indexes of the solar radio observation system,i.e.,the time resolution,analog front-end circuit,weight and volume of the analog circuit system.Compared with the digital receiver with sampling rate below 1 Gsps used in existing solar radio telescope,the new digital receiver reduces the frequency switching times of large bandwidth,which is beneficial to improving the frequency and time resolutions.The ADC sampling resolution of 14 bits,providing a large dynamic range,is very beneficial to observing smaller solar eruptions.This receiver,which would be used in the solar radio observation system,well meets the latest requirements with the resolutions of time(≤1 ms)and frequency(≤0.5 MHz)for fine observation of radio signals.

Probing the solar transition region： current status and future perspectives

The solar transition region （TR） is the temperature regime from roughly 0.02 MK to 0.8 MK in the solar atmosphere. It is the transition layer from the collisional and partially ionized chromosphere to the collisionless and fully ionized corona. The TR plays an important role in the mass and energy transport in both the quiet solar atmosphere and solar eruptions. Most of the TR emission lines fall into the spectral range of far ultraviolet and extreme ultraviolet （~400/^-1600/~）. Imaging and spec- troscopic observations in this spectral range are the most important ways to obtain information about the physics of the TR. Static solar atmosphere models predict a very thin TR. However, recent high- resolution observations indicate that the TR is highly dynamic and inhomogeneous. I will summarize some major findings about the TR made through imaging and spectroscopic observations in the past 20 years. These existing observations have demonstrated that the TR may be the key to understanding coronal heating and origin of the solar wind. Future exploration of the solar TR may need to focus on the upper TR, since the plasma in this temperature regime （0.1 MK-0.8 MK） has not been routinely imaged before. High-resolution imaging and spectroscopic observations of the upper TR will not only allow us to track the mass and energy from the lower atmosphere to the corona, but also help us to understand the initiation and heating mechanisms of coronal mass ejections and solar flares.

Time series data correction for the Chang'E-1 gamma-ray spectrometer

The main goal of the gamma-ray spectrometer（GRS） onboard Chang＇E1（CE-1） is to acquire global maps of elemental abundances and their distributions on the moon,since such maps will significantly improve our understanding of lunar formation and evolution.To derive the elemental maps and enable research on lunar formation and evolution,raw data that are received directly from the spacecraft must be converted into time series corrected gamma-ray spectra.The data correction procedures for the CE-1 GRS time series data are thoroughly described.The processing procedures to create the time series gamma-ray spectra described here include channel processing,optimal data selection,energy calibration,gain correction,dead time correction,geometric correction,orbit altitude normalization,eliminating unusable data and galactic cosmic ray correction.Finally,descriptions are also given on data measurement uncertainties,which will help the interested scientists to understand and estimate various uncertainties associated with the above data processing.