An Arrayed Waveguide Grating for Astronomical Spectroscopy in the Near Infrared

Photonic circuits are of growing importance in astronomical instruments. The tremendous progress in adaptive optics allowed to overcome the limitations of the earth's atmosphere and enabled diffraction limited imaging with ground based telescopes. This opened the possibility to use single mode waveguides in astronomical instruments at near infrared wavelengths, thus replacing bulk optics with tiny, monolithic chips.