MYSTIC: Michigan Young STar Imager at CHARA
John D. Monnier (U. Michigan), Jean-Baptiste Le Bouquin (U. Michigan,, Institut de Planetologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble), Narsireddy Anugu, (U. Exeter), Stefan Kraus (U. Exeter), Benjamin R. Setterholm (U. Michigan),, Jacob Ennis (U. Michigan)

TL;DR
MYSTIC is a new K-band, cryogenic, 6-beam interferometric instrument at CHARA designed to image disks around young stars, utilizing advanced fiber optics and a near-photon-counting detector to study planet formation.
Contribution
The paper introduces the design of MYSTIC, a novel interferometric instrument with enhanced capabilities for imaging young star disks and supporting multiple telescope modes.
Findings
Design of a cryogenic, 6-beam combiner for CHARA
Implementation of a near-photon-counting detector (SAPHIRA)
Support for 4-telescope mode with VLTI-GRAVITY optics
Abstract
We present the design for MYSTIC, the Michigan Young STar Imager at CHARA. MYSTIC will be a K-band, cryogenic, 6-beam combiner for the Georgia State University CHARA telescope array. The design follows the image-plane combination scheme of the MIRC instrument where single-mode fibers bring starlight into a non-redundant fringe pattern to feed a spectrograph. Beams will be injected in polarization-maintaining fibers outside the cryogenic dewar and then be transported through a vacuum feedthrough into the ~220K cold volume where combination is achieved and the light is dispersed. We will use a C-RED One camera (First Light Imaging) based on the eAPD SAPHIRA detector to allow for near-photon-counting performance. We also intend to support a 4-telescope mode using a leftover integrated optics component designed for the VLTI-GRAVITY experiment, allowing better sensitivity for the faintest…
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Taxonomy
TopicsStellar, planetary, and galactic studies · Astronomy and Astrophysical Research · Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing
