Dr. Alycia J. Weinberger Profile

Dr. Alycia J. Weinberger

at Carnegie Institution for Science

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Publications (24)

Proceedings Article | 18 July 2024 Poster + Paper

GMTNIRS: preliminary optical design for the calibration system of a near-infrared spectrograph

Woojin Park, Heeyoung Oh, Ueejeong Jeong, Jeong-Gyun Jang, Bi-Ho Jang, Sungho Lee, Hanshin Lee, Sanghyuk Kim, Chan Park, Moo-Young Chun, John Good, Gregory Mace, Cynthia Brooks, Alycia Weinberger, Daniel Jaffe

Proceedings Volume 13096, 130964T (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3015785

KEYWORDS: Calibration, Cameras, Lamps, Relays, Light sources and illumination, Spectrographs, Telescopes, Spherical lenses, Optical design

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Proceedings Article | 18 July 2024 Presentation + Paper

High-contrast imaging at first-light of the GMT: the preliminary design of GMagAO-X

Jared Males, Laird Close, Sebastiaan Haffert, Maggie Kautz, Doug Kelly, Adam Fletcher, Thomas Salanski, Olivier Durney, Jamison Noenickx, John Ford, Victor Gasho, Logan Pearce, Jay Kueny, Olivier Guyon, Alycia Weinberger, Brendan Bowler, Adam Kraus, Natasha Batalha

Proceedings Volume 13096, 130960Y (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3018157

KEYWORDS: Design, Equipment, Coronagraphy, Stars, Planets, Exoplanets, Control systems, Wavefront sensors, Telescopes, Adaptive optics

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Proceedings Article | 30 August 2022 Presentation + Paper

MagAO-X: current status and plans for Phase II

Jared Males, Laird Close, Sebastiaan Haffert, Joseph Long, Alexander Hedglen, Logan Pearce, Alycia Weinberger, Olivier Guyon, Justin Knight, Avalon McLeod, Maggie Kautz, Kyle Van Gorkom, Jennifer Lumbres, Lauren Schatz, Alex Rodack, Victor Gasho, Jay Kueny, Warren Foster

Proceedings Volume 12185, 1218509 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630584

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Adaptive optics, Telescopes, Algorithm development, Actuators, Imaging systems, Wavefront sensors, Planets, Stars

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Proceedings Article | 29 August 2022 Poster + Paper

Preliminary design of GMTNIRS cryostat and optical bench

Sanghyuk Kim, Chan Park, Woojin Park, Sungho Lee, Hanshin Lee, John Good, Gregory Mace, Heeyoung Oh, Ueejeong Jeong, Moo-Young Chun, Cynthia Brooks, Alycia Weinberger, Daniel Jaffe

Proceedings Volume 12184, 121842R (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2628411

KEYWORDS: Optical benches, Spectrographs, Cryocoolers, Telescopes, Cryogenics, Astronomy

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Proceedings Article | 29 August 2022 Poster + Paper

GMTNIRS optical system design

Hanshin Lee, Greg Mace, Cynthia Brooks, John Good, Sungho Lee, Sanghyuk Kim, Chan Park, Woojin Park, Heeyong Oh, Ueejeong Jeong, Moo Young Chun, Alycia Weinberger, Daniel Jaffe

Proceedings Volume 12184, 121843I (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630274

KEYWORDS: Spectrographs, Optical design, Image quality, Diffraction, Adaptive optics, Tolerancing, Relays

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Proceedings Article | 29 August 2022 Poster + Paper

GMTNIRS: preliminary optical mount design for cryogenic spectrograph

Woojin Park, Sanghyuk Kim, Chan Park, Sungho Lee, Hanshin Lee, John Good, Heeyoung Oh, Gregory Mace, Cynthia Brooks, Ueejeong Jeong, Moo-Young Chun, Alycia Weinberger, Daniel Jaffe

Proceedings Volume 12184, 121842Q (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2628408

KEYWORDS: Mirrors, Optical mounts, Spectrographs, Optical design, Optical components, Earthquakes, Off axis mirrors, Finite element methods, Cryogenics

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Proceedings Article | 29 August 2022 Poster + Paper

Preliminary design of GMTNIRS electronics

Ueejeong Jeong, Moo-Young Chun, Sungho Lee, Sanghyuk Kim, Chan Park, Gregory Mace, Heeyoung Oh, Woojin Park, John Good, Hanshin Lee, Cynthia Brooks, Alycia Weinberger, Daniel Jaffe

Proceedings Volume 12184, 1218436 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2629230

KEYWORDS: Control systems, Electronics, Cryogenics, Spectrographs

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Proceedings Article | 13 December 2020 Presentation + Paper

Prediction of the planet yield of the MaxProtoPlanetS high-contrast survey for H-alpha protoplanets with MagAO-X based on first light contrasts

Laird Close, Jared Males, Joseph Long, Kyle Van Gorkom, Alexander Hedglen, Maggie Kautz, Jennifer Lumbres, Sebastiaan Haffert, Katherine Follette, Kevin Wagner, Kelsey Miller, Daniel Apai, Ya-Lin Wu, Olivier Guyon, Lauren Schatz, Alex Rodack, David Doelman, Frans Snik, Justin Knight, Katie Morzinski, Victor Gasho, Christoph Keller, Logan Pearce, Alycia Weinberger, Laura Pérez, René Doyon

Proceedings Volume 11448, 114480U (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2561677

KEYWORDS: Imaging systems, Adaptive optics, Cameras, Actuators, Exoplanets, Planets, Hydrogen, Magnetism, Stars, Coronagraphy

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Proceedings Article | 24 July 2018 Presentation + Paper

The HOSTS survey for exo-zodiacal dust: preliminary results and future prospects

S. Ertel, G. Kennedy, D. Defrère, P. Hinz, A. Shannon, B. Mennesson, W. C. Danchi, C. Gelino, J. M. Hill, W. Hoffman, G. Rieke, E. Spalding, J. Stone, A. Vaz, A. Weinberger, P. Willems, O. Absil, P. Arbo, V. Bailey, C. Beichman, G. Bryden, E. Downey, O. Durney, S. Esposito, A. Gaspar, P. Grenz, C. Haniff, J. Leisenring, L. Marion, T. McMahon, R. Millan-Gabet, M. Montoya, K. Morzinski, E. Pinna, J. Power, A. Puglisi, A. Roberge, E. Serabyn, A. Skemer, K. Stapelfeldt, K. Y. L. Su, V. Vaitheeswaran, M. Wyatt

Proceedings Volume 10698, 106981V (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2313685

KEYWORDS: Stars, Planets, Calibration, Statistical analysis, Exoplanets, Space telescopes, Nulling interferometry, Astronomy, Telescopes, Interferometry

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The presence of large amounts of dust in the habitable zones of nearby stars is a significant obstacle for future exo-Earth imaging missions. We executed the HOSTS (Hunt for Observable Signatures of Terrestrial Systems) survey to determine the typical amount of such exozodiacal dust around a sample of nearby main sequence stars. The majority of the data have been analyzed and we present here an update of our ongoing work. Nulling interferometry in N band was used to suppress the bright stellar light and to detect faint, extended circumstellar dust emission. We present an overview of the latest results from our ongoing work. We find seven new N band excesses in addition to the high confidence confirmation of three that were previously known. We find the first detections around Sun-like stars and around stars without previously known circumstellar dust. Our overall detection rate is 23%. The inferred occurrence rate is comparable for early type and Sun-like stars, but decreases from 71^{+11 -20}% for stars with previously detected mid- to far-infrared excess to 11^{+9 -4}% for stars without such excess, confirming earlier results at high confidence. For completed observations on individual stars, our sensitivity is five to ten times better than previous results. Assuming a lognormal luminosity function of the dust, we find upper limits on the median dust level around all stars without previously known mid to far infrared excess of 11.5 zodis at 95% confidence level. The corresponding upper limit for Sun-like stars is 16 zodis. An LBTI vetted target list of Sun-like stars for exo-Earth imaging would have a corresponding limit of 7.5 zodis. We provide important new insights into the occurrence rate and typical levels of habitable zone dust around main sequence stars. Exploiting the full range of capabilities of the LBTI provides a critical opportunity for the detailed characterization of a sample of exozodiacal dust disks to understand the origin, distribution, and properties of the dust.

Proceedings Article | 10 July 2018 Paper

The hunt for Sirius Ab: comparison of algorithmic sky and PSF estimation performance in deep coronagraphic thermal-IR high contrast imaging

Joseph Long, Jared Males, Katie Morzinski, Laird Close, Frans Snik, Matthew Kenworthy, Gilles P. Otten, John Monnier, Volker Tolls, Alycia Weinberger

Proceedings Volume 10703, 107032T (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2312874

KEYWORDS: Point spread functions, Coronagraphy, Stray light, Sensors, Telescopes, Stars, Principal component analysis, Exoplanets, Imaging systems, Observatories

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Proceedings Article | 10 July 2018 Presentation + Paper

MagAO-X: project status and first laboratory results

Jared Males, Laird Close, Kelsey Miller, Lauren Schatz, David Doelman, Jennifer Lumbres, Frans Snik, Alex Rodack, Justin Knight, Kyle Van Gorkom, Joseph Long, Alex Hedglen, Maggie Kautz, Nemanja Jovanovic, Katie Morzinski, Olivier Guyon, Ewan Douglas, Katherine Follette, Julien Lozi, Chris Bohlman, Olivier Durney, Victor Gasho, Phil Hinz, Michael Ireland, Madison Jean, Christoph Keller, Matt Kenworthy, Ben Mazin, Jamison Noenickx, Dan Alfred, Kevin Perez, Anna Sanchez, Corwynn Sauve, Alycia Weinberger, Al Conrad

Proceedings Volume 10703, 1070309 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2312992

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Stars, Telescopes, Adaptive optics, Planets, Wavefronts, Computing systems, Observatories

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Proceedings Article | 6 July 2018 Presentation + Paper

IGRINS at the Discovery Channel Telescope and Gemini South

Gregory Mace, Kimberly Sokal, Jae-Joon Lee, Heeyoung Oh, Chan Park, Hanshin Lee, John Good, Phillip MacQueen, Jae Sok Oh, Kyle Kaplan , Ben Kidder, Moo-Young Chun, In-Soo Yuk , Ueejeong Jeong, Soojong Pak, Kang-Min Kim, Jakyoung Nah, Sungho Lee, Young-Sam Yu, Narae Hwang, Byeong-Gon Park, Hwihyun Kim, Brian Chinn, Alison Peck, Ruben Diaz, Rene Rutten, Lisa Prato, George Jacoby, Frank Cornelius, Ben Hardesty, William DeGroff, Edward Dunham, Stephen Levine, Larissa Nofi, Ricardo Lopez-Valdivia, Alycia Weinberger, Daniel Jaffe

Proceedings Volume 10702, 107020Q (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2312345

KEYWORDS: Gemini Observatory, Telescopes, Observatories, Space telescopes, Astronomy, K band, Spectrographs, Stars, Electronics, Infrared spectroscopy

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The Immersion GRating INfrared Spectrometer (IGRINS) was designed for high-throughput with the expectation of being a visitor instrument at progressively larger observing facilities. IGRINS achieves R∼45000 and > 20,000 resolution elements spanning the H and K bands (1.45-2.5μm) by employing a silicon immersion grating as the primary disperser and volume-phase holographic gratings as cross-dispersers. After commissioning on the 2.7 meter Harlan J. Smith Telescope at McDonald Observatory, the instrument had more than 350 scheduled nights in the first two years. With a fixed format echellogram and no cryogenic mechanisms, spectra produced by IGRINS at different facilities have nearly identical formats. The first host facility for IGRINS was Lowell Observatory’s 4.3-meter Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT). For the DCT a three-element fore-optic assembly was designed to be mounted in front of the cryostat window and convert the f/6.1 telescope beam to the f/8.8 beam required by the default IGRINS input optics. The larger collecting area and more reliable pointing and tracking of the DCT improved the faint limit of IGRINS, relative to the McDonald 2.7-meter, by ∼1 magnitude. The Gemini South 8.1-meter telescope was the second facility for IGRINS to visit. The focal ratio for Gemini is f/16, which required a swap of the four-element input optics assembly inside the IGRINS cryostat. At Gemini, observers have access to many southern-sky targets and an additional gain of ∼1.5 magnitudes compared to IGRINS at the DCT. Additional adjustments to IGRINS include instrument mounts for each facility, a glycol cooled electronics rack, and software modifications. Here we present instrument modifications, report on the success and challenges of being a visitor instrument, and highlight the science output of the instrument after four years and 699 nights on sky. The successful design and adaptation of IGRINS for various facilities make it a reliable forerunner for GMTNIRS, which we now anticipate commissioning on one of the 6.5 meter Magellan telescopes prior to the completion of the Giant Magellan Telescope.

Proceedings Article | 8 August 2016 Paper

Enabling the direct detection of earth-sized exoplanets with the LBTI HOSTS project: a progress report

W. Danchi, V. Bailey, G. Bryden, D. Defrère, S. Ertel, C. Haniff, P. Hinz, G. Kennedy, B. Mennesson, R. Millan-Gabet, G. Rieke, A. Roberge, E. Serabyn, A. Skemer, K. Stapelfeldt, A. Weinberger, M. Wyatt, A. Vaz

Proceedings Volume 9907, 990713 (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2233397

KEYWORDS: Exoplanets, Stars, Telescopes, Interferometers, Mid-IR, Nulling interferometry, Planets, Solar system, Space telescopes, Coronagraphy

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NASA has funded a project called the Hunt for Observable Signatures of Terrestrial Systems (HOSTS) to survey nearby solar type stars to determine the amount of warm zodiacal dust in their habitable zones. The goal is not only to determine the luminosity distribution function but also to know which individual stars have the least amount of zodiacal dust. It is important to have this information for future missions that directly image exoplanets as this dust is the main source of astrophysical noise for them. The HOSTS project utilizes the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI), which consists of two 8.4-m apertures separated by a 14.4-m baseline on Mt. Graham, Arizona. The LBTI operates in a nulling mode in the mid-infrared spectral window (8-13 μm), in which light from the two telescopes is coherently combined with a 180 degree phase shift between them, producing a dark fringe at the location of the target star. In doing so the starlight is greatly reduced, increasing the contrast, analogous to a coronagraph operating at shorter wavelengths. The LBTI is a unique instrument, having only three warm reflections before the starlight reaches cold mirrors, giving it the best photometric sensitivity of any interferometer operating in the mid-infrared. It also has a superb Adaptive Optics (AO) system giving it Strehl ratios greater than 98% at 10 μm. In 2014 into early 2015 LBTI was undergoing commissioning. The HOSTS project team passed its Operational Readiness Review (ORR) in April 2015. The team recently published papers on the target sample, modeling of the nulled disk images, and initial results such as the detection of warm dust around η Corvi. Recently a paper was published on the data pipeline and on-sky performance. An additional paper is in preparation on β Leo. We will discuss the scientific and programmatic context for the LBTI project, and we will report recent progress, new results, and plans for the science verification phase that started in February 2016, and for the survey.

Proceedings Article | 4 August 2016 Paper

Imaging protoplanets: observing transition disks with non-redundant masking

Steph Sallum, Josh Eisner, Laird Close, Philip Hinz, Katherine Follette, Kaitlin Kratter, Andrew Skemer, Vanessa Bailey, Runa Briguglio, Denis Defrere, Bruce Macintosh, Jared Males, Katie Morzinski, Alfio Puglisi, Timothy Rodigas, Eckhart Spalding, Peter Tuthill, Amali Vaz, Alycia Weinberger, Marco Xomperio

Proceedings Volume 9907, 99070D (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2231764

KEYWORDS: Infrared radiation, Stars, Planets, Light scattering, Light, Data modeling, L band, Scattering, Signal to noise ratio, Infrared imaging

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Proceedings Article | 4 August 2016 Paper

Making high-accuracy null depth measurements for the LBTI exozodi survey

Bertrand Mennesson, Denis Defrère, Matthias Nowak, Philip Hinz, Rafael Millan-Gabet, Olivier Absil, Vanessa Bailey, Geoffrey Bryden, William Danchi, Grant Kennedy, Lindsay Marion, Aki Roberge, Eugene Serabyn, Andy Skemer, Karl Stapelfeldt, Alycia Weinberger, Mark Wyatt

Proceedings Volume 9907, 99070X (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2231839

KEYWORDS: Interferometry, Mid-IR, Stars, Calibration, Visibility, Telescopes, Sensors, Astronomy, Signal detection, Error analysis

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Proceedings Article | 27 July 2016 Paper

The path to visible extreme adaptive optics with MagAO-2K and MagAO-X

Jared Males, Laird Close, Olivier Guyon, Katie Morzinski, Philip Hinz, Simone Esposito, Enrico Pinna, Marco Xompero, Runa Briguglio, Armando Riccardi, Alfio Puglisi, Ben Mazin, Michael Ireland, Alycia Weinberger, Al Conrad, Matthew Kenworthy, Frans Snik, Gilles Otten, Nemanja Jovanovic, Julien Lozi

Proceedings Volume 9909, 990952 (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2234105

KEYWORDS: Adaptive optics, Imaging systems, Sensors, Adaptive optics, Coronagraphy, Stars, Atmospheric modeling, Point spread functions, Liquid crystal on silicon, Telescopes, Error analysis

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Proceedings Article | 24 July 2014 Paper

The LBTI hunt for observable signatures of terrestrial systems (HOSTS) survey: a key NASA science program on the road to exoplanet imaging missions

W. Danchi, V. Bailey, G. Bryden, D. Defrère, C. Haniff, P. Hinz, G. Kennedy, B. Mennesson, R. Millan-Gabet, G. Rieke, A. Roberge, E. Serabyn, A. Skemer, K. Stapelfeldt, A. Weinberger, M. Wyatt

Proceedings Volume 9146, 914607 (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2056681

KEYWORDS: Stars, Space telescopes, Planets, Solar system, Telescopes, Interferometers, Nulling interferometry, Imaging systems, Exoplanets, Sun

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Proceedings Article | 21 July 2014 Paper

Direct imaging of exoplanets in the habitable zone with adaptive optics

Jared Males, Laird Close, Olivier Guyon, Katie Morzinski, Alfio Puglisi, Philip Hinz, Katherine Follette, John Monnier, Volker Tolls, Timothy Rodigas, Alycia Weinberger, Alan Boss, Derek Kopon, Ya-lin Wu, Simone Esposito, Armando Riccardi, Marco Xompero, Runa Briguglio, Enrico Pinna

Proceedings Volume 9148, 914820 (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2057135

KEYWORDS: Planets, Stars, Adaptive optics, Imaging systems, Exoplanets, Cameras, Point spread functions, Liquids, Telescopes, Space telescopes

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Proceedings Article | 21 July 2014 Paper

MagAO: Status and on-sky performance of the Magellan adaptive optics system

Katie Morzinski, Laird Close, Jared Males, Derek Kopon, Phil Hinz, Simone Esposito, Armando Riccardi, Alfio Puglisi, Enrico Pinna, Runa Briguglio, Marco Xompero, Fernando Quirós-Pacheco, Vanessa Bailey, Katherine Follette, T. Rodigas, Ya-Lin Wu, Carmelo Arcidiacono, Javier Argomedo, Lorenzo Busoni, Tyson Hare, Alan Uomoto, Alycia Weinberger

Proceedings Volume 9148, 914804 (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2057048

KEYWORDS: Adaptive optics, Cameras, Mirrors, Stars, Telescopes, Charge-coupled devices, Calibration, Infrared cameras, Modulation, Control systems

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Proceedings Article | 24 September 2012 Paper

TIGER: a high contrast infrared imager for the Giant Magellan Telescope

Philip Hinz, Johanan Codona, Olivier Guyon, William Hoffmann, Andrew Skemer, Joseph Hora, Volker Tolls, Alan Boss, Alycia Weinberger, Paul Arbo, Thomas Connors, Olivier Durney, Thomas McMahon, Manny Montoya, Vidhya Vaitheeswaran

Proceedings Volume 8446, 84461P (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926751

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Adaptive optics, Cameras, Stars, Telescopes, Speckle, Infrared telescopes, Infrared imaging, Infrared radiation, Sensors

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Proceedings Article | 6 July 2006 Paper

Extrasolar planetary imaging coronagraph (EPIC)

Mark Clampin, Gary Melnick, Richard Lyon, Scott Kenyon, Dimitar Sasselov, Volker Tolls, Holland Ford, David Golimowski, Larry Petro, George Hartig, William Sparks, Garth Illingworth, Doug Lin, Sara Seager, Alycia Weinberger, Martin Harwit, Mark Marley, Jean Schneider, Michael Shao, Marty Levine, Jian Ge, Robert Woodruff

Proceedings Volume 6265, 62651B (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.672849

KEYWORDS: Planets, Wavefronts, Nulling interferometry, Coronagraphy, Stars, Space telescopes, Point spread functions, Telescopes, Atmospheric physics, Atmospheric sensing

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Proceedings Article | 19 June 2006 Paper

Coronagraphic Exploration Camera (CorECam)

Mark Clampin, Richard Lyon, Larry Petro, Sara Seager, Mark Marley, Gary Melnick, Alycia Weinberger, Robert Woodruff, Scott Horner, Holland Ford, Garth Illingworth, Jim Kasting, Doug Lin, Marc Kuchner, Mike Shao, William Sparks, Bernard Rauscher, Volker Tolls, Ruth Carter

Proceedings Volume 6265, 62650O (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.672816

KEYWORDS: Planets, Optical filters, Near infrared, Sensors, Cameras, Charge-coupled devices, Staring arrays, Photon counting, Imaging systems, Planetary systems

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Proceedings Article | 12 October 2004 Paper

Extrasolar Planetary Imaging Coronagraph (EPIC)

Mark Clampin, Gary Melnick, Richard Lyon, Holland Ford, J. Roger Angel, Daniel Gezari, David Golimowski, George Hartig, Martin Harwit, Matt Holman, Garth Illingworth, Scott Kenyon, Douglas Lin, Mark Marley, Scot Olivier, Larry Petro, Dimitar Sasselov, Jean Schneider, Sara Seager, Michael Shao, William Sparks, Volker Tolls, Alycia Weinberger, Hsiao Smith, Ruth Carter, Robert Woodruff, Brent Hyatt, Stephen Kendrick, David Purmot

Proceedings Volume 5487, (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.552314

KEYWORDS: Planets, Coronagraphy, Telescopes, Mirrors, Wavefronts, Stars, Space telescopes, Nulling interferometry, Solar system, Imaging systems

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