Direct Detection and Characterization of Exoplanets Using Imaging Fourier Transform Spectroscopy

Space-based direct imaging provides prospects for detection and spectral characterization of exoplanets at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. Integral field spectrographs (IFS) have been historically baselined for these mission concepts. However, multiple studies have revealed that detector noise is a serious obstacle for such instruments when observing extremely faint targets such as Earth-like planets. Imaging Fourier transform spectrographs (iFTS) are generally less sensitive to detector noise, and have several other compelling features such as simultaneous imaging and spectroscopy, smaller-format detector requirements, and variable spectral resolving power. To date, they have not been studied as options for such missions. Here, we compare the capabilities of IFS and iFTS for directly obtaining spectra from an Earth-like planet using both analytic and numerical models. Specifically, we compare the required exposure times to achieve the same signal-to-noise ratio with the two architectures over a range of detector and optical system parameters. We find that for a 6 m telescope, an IFS outperforms an iFTS at optical wavelengths due to the effects of distributed photon noise. In the near-IR, the relative efficiency of an IFS and iFTS depends critically on the instrument design and detector noise. An iFTS will be more efficient than an IFS if the readout noise of the near-IR detector is above ∼2–3 e− pix−1 frame−1 (tfrm = 1000 s), which correspond to half to one-third of the state-of-art detector noise. However, if the readout noise is reduced below this threshold, the performance of an IFS will experience a substantial improvement and become more efficient. These results motivate consideration of an iFTS as an alternative option for future direct imaging space missions in the near-IR.