Imaging of Solar Photospheric Magnetic Fields using Photonic Magnetographs

We present progress on developing a novel magnetograph that leverages advances in photonics integrated circuits (PICs) and low noise lasers driven by the needs of the telecommunications industry. In our design, a single PIC replaces the traditional optical components by exploiting interferometric imaging techniques developed as part of the SPIDER project, a collaboration with LM and UC Davis. The resulting signal is processed using standard techniques from radio astronomy and solar magnetometry.

The optics package for our prototype full-disk imager achieves 30 arc second resolution within a few tens of cubic centimeters — compared to tens of thousands needed for traditional designs — with comparable savings in mass. Such devices could easily be deployed throughout the heliosphere on small-sat constellations and could enable higher resolution space weather missions with significant cost savings.