A Versatile Technique to Enable sub-milli-Kelvin Instrument Stability for Precise Radial Velocity Measurements: Tests with the Habitable-zone Planet Finder

TL;DR

This paper introduces a highly stable environmental control system for high-precision NIR spectrographs, demonstrating sub-milliKelvin stability that enhances Doppler radial velocity measurements for exoplanet detection.

Contribution

The paper presents a versatile ECS design that achieves sub-milliKelvin stability over extended periods, applicable across a wide temperature range for various high-precision spectrographs.

Findings

Achieved 0.6mK RMS stability over 15 days at 180K and 300K.

Maintained high vacuum (<10^{-7} Torr) over months without passive thermal enclosure.

Demonstrated the ECS's applicability to multiple instruments and temperature ranges.

Abstract

Insufficient instrument thermo-mechanical stability is one of the many roadblocks for achieving 10cm/s Doppler radial velocity (RV) precision, the precision needed to detect Earth-twins orbiting Solar-type stars. Highly temperature and pressure stabilized spectrographs allow us to better calibrate out instrumental drifts, thereby helping in distinguishing instrumental noise from astrophysical stellar signals. We present the design and performance of the Environmental Control System (ECS) for the Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF), a high-resolution (R=50,000) fiber-fed near infrared (NIR) spectrograph for the 10m Hobby Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory. HPF will operate at 180K, driven by the choice of an H2RG NIR detector array with a 1.7micron cutoff. This ECS has demonstrated 0.6mK RMS stability over 15 days at both 180K and 300K, and maintained high quality vacuum (<$10^{-7}$Torr) over months, during long-term stability tests conducted without a planned passive thermal enclosure surrounding the vacuum chamber. This control scheme is versatile and can be applied as a blueprint to stabilize future NIR and optical high precision Doppler instruments over a wide temperature range from ~77K to elevated room temperatures. A similar ECS is being implemented to stabilize NEID, the NASA/NSF NN-EXPLORE spectrograph for the 3.5m WIYN telescope at Kitt Peak, operating at 300K. A full SolidWorks 3D-CAD model and a comprehensive parts list of the HPF ECS are included with this manuscript to facilitate the adaptation of this versatile environmental control scheme in the broader astronomical community.