Astrophysics

Fourier Spectroscopy Laboratory

At the Fourier Spectroscopy Laboratory, scientists will develop and integrate an instrument based on a novel technological concept that provides spectroscopic information in a large-format two-dimensional field, with the flexibility to operate at different spectral resolutions, with excellent spatial resolution, and with the potential to become a competitive instrument that can be used in a wide range of astronomical problems and scientific cases.
            

The instrument called OFIUCO (Optical Fourier-transform Imaging Unit for Cananea Observatory) uses the two-dimensional Fourier transform spectroscopy (Imaging Fourier Transform Spectroscopy, IFTS) technique, which has proven to be viable in the optical range for astronomical applications, but which So far it has not been fully exploited. This instrument will be developed for the Guillermo Haro Astrophysical Observatory in Cananea, Sonora. However, the design and integration of this prototype could lay the foundations for the development of a similar instrument in the future San Pedro Mártir Telescope (TSPM) of 6.5 meters in diameter.

The project received resources for almost five million pesos from the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) through the Call for Support for the Strengthening and Development of the Scientific and Technological Infrastructure 2016. It involves the doctors Fernando Fabián Rosales Ortega , Édgar Castillo Domínguez and Perla García Flores, of the INAOE, as well as Sebastián F. Sánchez and Jesús González, of the Institute of Astronomy of the UNAM, among others. This laboratory consolidates and enriches INAOE's infrastructure, which already has an Astronomical Instrumentation Laboratory and another one for Millimeter Instrumentation.

Fourier transform spectroscopy is a relatively new concept in astronomy. "The traditional way of obtaining spectra of the celestial objects that we observe through the telescope is through the use of prisms or dispersion methods, however, this new form uses optical principles of reflection and interference, in which we create differences in the optical path of light and applying mathematical methods of signal decomposition we can separate the light into its different components ".

Contact person: Fabián Rosales, Ph.D.