Speaker
Description
The Multi-Aperture Spectroscopic Telescope (MAST) is a modular array of 20 × 60 cm telescopes currently being commissioned at the Weizmann Astrophysical Observatory in the Negev desert, Israel. Designed primarily for astronomical spectroscopy, MAST employs a novel fiber-fed architecture in which each on-axis beam is collected by an optical fiber and delivered to the object plane of a dedicated spectrograph. For SII, we plan to operate a subset of the telescopes, each coupled to an independent R ~ 3,000 spectrograph and equipped with Pi Imaging’s SPAD-lambda: an 80-channel linear SPAD array. This setup enables simultaneous correlation of photon arrival times across ~80 narrow spectral channels, providing an expected √80 ≈ 9 improvement in the SNR of the second-order correlation function, g(2). Leveraging modern detectors and spectral multiplexing, we anticipate a factor of ~3.5 gain in SNR relative to the original Narrabri Interferometer, for the same observing time but with only 1/100 of the collecting area. With an initial configuration of four telescopes, MAST can simultaneously measure six unique baselines, constructing a full visibility curve six times faster than a single telescope pair. Our goal is to demonstrate that SII can be carried out with small telescopes while achieving the SNR performance of much larger apertures. Looking ahead, MAST’s modular design may also allow deployment on portable piers, enabling flexible (u,v) coverage and paving the way toward image reconstruction—an approach not easily achievable with the large, fixed reflectors commonly used for SII.
