AstroPIC: photonic integrated circuits bring the coronagraph on-chip for exoplanet hunting
jwt0625 · x · 2026-10-23
A neat cross-discipline tidbit: the AstroPIC effort is using photonic integrated circuits to build a coronagraph for exoplanet discovery.
- Grating couplers enable arbitrary spatial mode mapping, and an MZI mesh can implement the occulting disk on-chip, blocking starlight modes while passing planet signal;
- The diagram shows the full path: microlens array, grating couplers, an MZI mesh on a silicon-on-insulator platform, and photodetectors;
- The author jokes that since it's also an OPA, Google's Taara could repurpose its OPA chip for exoplanet discovery.
A rare photonic-computing-meets-astronomy application worth watching.
Related event: AstroPIC Puts Exoplanet-Hunting Coronagraph on a Photonic Chip(2 posts)→
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