Exoplanet spectroscopy with diffraction primary objective telescopy

When diffraction is employed as the primary collector modality of a telescope instead of reflection or refraction, a new set of performance capabilities emerges. A diffraction-based telescope forms a spectrogram first and an image as secondary data. The results are startling. In multiple object capability, the diffraction telescope on earth can capture 2 million spectra to R > 100,000 in a single night, better for a census of exoplanets by radial velocity than any prior art. In a space telescope in a direct observation mode, this type diffraction primary objective could reveal spectral analyses of individual exoplanets. We introduce three embodiments: THE MOST, HOMES and ADEDPT.

Speaker: Tom Ditto, NIAC