The Planetary Systems Imager: 2-5 Micron Channel

TL;DR

The paper discusses the PSI-Red instrument for the TMT, designed to detect and characterize exoplanets in the 2-5 micron infrared range, enabling observations of various exoplanet types.

Contribution

It introduces the design and capabilities of PSI-Red, a new instrument for the TMT that enhances exoplanet detection and characterization in the thermal infrared.

Findings

Enables detection of cold exoplanets emitting in thermal infrared

Allows characterization of wide-orbit and accreting protoplanets

Supports diverse observational modes including imaging and spectroscopy

Abstract

We summarize the red channel (2-5 micron) of the Planetary Systems Imager (PSI), a proposed second-generation instrument for the TMT. Cold exoplanets emit the majority of their light in the thermal infrared, which means these exoplanets can be detected at a more modest contrast than at other wavelengths. PSI-Red will be able to detect and characterize a wide variety of exoplanets, including radial-velocity planets on wide orbits, accreting protoplanets in nearby star-forming regions, and reflected-light planets around the nearest stars. PSI-Red will feature an imager, a low-resolution lenslet integral field spectrograph, a medium-resolution lenslet+slicer integral field spectrograph, and a fiber-fed high-resolution spectrograph.