Denmark – Astronomical and optical instruments – Laser Frequency Comb for 2ES

DTU will like to buy a Laser Frequency Comb for 2ES (The Second Earth Spectrograph). The Second Earth Spectrograph (2ES) is a next-generation extreme-precision radial velocity spectro-graph that will be installed at the MPG/ESO 2. 2m Telescope on La Silla, Chile (Southern Hemisphere).

2ES will be dedicated to a > 5-year observing program with access to the majority (2/3) of the tele-scope time with the goal of discovering temperate terrestrial Earth-mass planets in the habitable zone around the brightest solar-type stars in the sky. In order to achieve the extreme precision needed for 2ES to complete its science objectives, a Laser Frequency Comb (LFC) calibration source is crucial in order to be able to calibrate the spectrograph to achieve the extreme precision of 10 cm/s over many years of operation. The LFC must cover the entire wavelength range of 2ES (370 nm to 870 nm) and have comb lines at appropriate spacing (see requirements) and have extreme stability (see requirements).

The LFC must be able to function in a as-tronomical observing environment, be remotely operatable and be also to sustain a significant uptime at the astronomical telescope.