Conjugate-plane photometry: Reducing scintillation in ground-based photometry

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method called conjugate-plane photometry that significantly reduces atmospheric scintillation noise in ground-based high-precision photometry, enabling detection of smaller brightness variations such as exoplanet transits.

Contribution

The paper proposes a new technique combining pupil reconjugation and calibration with a comparison star to mitigate high-altitude atmospheric turbulence effects in ground-based photometry.

Findings

Simulation shows a factor of ~30 reduction in intensity variance with a simplified atmosphere.

Realistic atmospheric data indicates a median variance reduction by a factor of 11.

Potential to improve photometric precision, enabling detection of exoplanet secondary transits from the ground.

Abstract

High precision fast photometry from ground-based observatories is a challenge due to intensity fluctuations (scintillation) produced by the Earth's atmosphere. Here we describe a method to reduce the effects of scintillation by a combination of pupil reconjugation and calibration using a comparison star. Because scintillation is produced by high altitude turbulence, the range of angles over which the scintillation is correlated is small and therefore simple correction by a comparison star is normally impossible. We propose reconjugating the telescope pupil to a high dominant layer of turbulence, then apodizing it before calibration with a comparison star. We find by simulation that given a simple atmosphere with a single high altitude turbulent layer and a strong surface layer a reduction in the intensity variance by a factor of ~30 is possible. Given a more realistic atmosphere as measured by SCIDAR at San Pedro M\'artir we find that on a night with a strong high altitude layer we can expect the median variance to be reduced by a factor of 11. By reducing the scintillation noise we will be able to detect much smaller changes in brightness. If we assume a 2 m telescope and an exposure time of 30 seconds a reduction in the scintillation noise from 0.78 mmag to 0.21 mmag is possible, which will enable the routine detection of, for example, the secondary transits of extrasolar planets from the ground.