Answering the big questions in astronomy with astrophotonic spectroscopy

Abstract

Astrophotonics offers the means to answer some of the most outstanding questions in astronomy by improving the versatility - and therefore the scientific productivity - of highly-multiplexed and precision spectroscopic systems. Together with the increased collecting aperture of the next generation of telescopes and wide-field Adaptive Optics, large, high-precision surveys of faint objects, selected primarily by mass content rather than luminous output, will be possible. Tight control over the instrument characteristics will also permit recovery of the most subtle spectral features. This requires the imaginative use of photonic devices and principles.