TOPTEC is involved in a key upgrade of the telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory

 

The TOPTEC team was responsible for the design and production of a precise computer-controlled fibre coupling system placed in primary focus of telescope. The light from the telescope is fed by the coupling systém into a special octagonal optical fiber, which leads the optical signal to a high-resolution spectrograph. A telescope with a primary mirror diameter of 1.5 m, combined with computer controled coupler and a fiber, forms the gigantic front end (input optical system) of the spectrograph. The light coming from the studied stars is then guided almost without loss through a more than 30 m long highly flexible fiber. Thanks to the fiber this excellent transmission can be achieved nearly in any position of the telescope. After adjusting the system, the transmission parameters improved several times compared to the original configuration. The significantly higher signal level reached then allows for a higher SNR (signal to noise ratio) to be achieved and this will enable the investigation of selected properties of exoplanets with unprecedented precision. Astronomers from the entire scientific team can thus look forward to new discoveries revealing the nature of exoplanets more than 100 light-years away. The computer-controlled couplingy system has also other functions that will be step by step tested and commisioned.  Among other things, it will, for example, ensure a stable connection of the high-precision calibration unit developed by partners from the Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg.