Status and performance of the Asgard/NOTT cold nulling camera
Abstract
Long-baseline nulling interferometry suppresses the on-axis light of a star, enabling high-contrast observations of faint circumstellar emission and exoplanets at high angular resolution. The Nulling Observations of dusT and PlaneTs (NOTT) instrument is the L'-band nulling interferometer of the Asgard instrument suite and will be the first nuller installed at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). Its main scientific goals are to characterise hot/warm exozodiacal dust and young Jupiter-like exoplanets at close (<10 AU) orbital separations, where indirect detection methods are most sensitive. NOTT uses a four-telescope integrated-optics photonic beam combiner operating over 3.5-4.0 micrometres. The photonic chip produces photometric, bright, and nulled outputs that are polarization-split, spectrally dispersed, and imaged onto a 5-micrometre-cutoff HAWAII-2RG detector by the NOTT cold nulling camera. The cold optical assembly includes the photonic-chip interface, injection optics, collimator, Wollaston prism, dispersive element, imager, and cryogenic detector stage. The mechanical implementation is designed for operation near 90 K using aluminium support structures, spring-loaded optical mounts, and cryogenic-compatible mechanisms to preserve alignment during cooldown. We present the current status and performance of the NOTT cold nulling camera and cryostat assembly. The system is undergoing assembly, integration, and verification to validate thermal stability, detector operation, vacuum performance, and opto-mechanical repeatability. Initial cryogenic tests have demonstrated operation near 100 K for the cold optics and 30 K for the detector, cryogenic validation of the filter wheel, and a vacuum pressure of 8 x 10^-8 mbar. These activities represent a key step toward deploying NOTT as the first nulling interferometer at the VLTI.
Versions
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{chingaipe2026status,
title = {{Status and performance of the Asgard/NOTT cold nulling camera}},
author = {P. Chingaipe and G. Medgyesi and A. Mazzoli and E. Bouzerand and R. Laugier and P. Abraham and C. Dandumont and D. Defrère and A. Glauser and G. Garreau and M. Ireland and A. P. Joo and J. Loicq and M-A. Martinod and K. Missiaen and M. Montoya and J. Morren and G. Raskin and M. Salman and W. Schofield and W. Verstraeten and S. Ertel and T. A. Stuber and J. P. Scott and S. Kraus and F. Martinache and X. Haubois and N. Schuhler},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.21546},
eprint = {2609.21546},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.21546},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Status and performance of the Asgard/NOTT cold nulling camera
AU - P. Chingaipe
AU - G. Medgyesi
AU - A. Mazzoli
AU - E. Bouzerand
AU - R. Laugier
AU - P. Abraham
AU - C. Dandumont
AU - D. Defrère
AU - A. Glauser
AU - G. Garreau
AU - M. Ireland
AU - A. P. Joo
AU - J. Loicq
AU - M-A. Martinod
AU - K. Missiaen
AU - M. Montoya
AU - J. Morren
AU - G. Raskin
AU - M. Salman
AU - W. Schofield
AU - W. Verstraeten
AU - S. Ertel
AU - T. A. Stuber
AU - J. P. Scott
AU - S. Kraus
AU - F. Martinache
AU - X. Haubois
AU - N. Schuhler
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.21546
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.21546
AB - Long-baseline nulling interferometry suppresses the on-axis light of a star, enabling high-contrast observations of faint circumstellar emission and exoplanets at high angular resolution. The Nulling Observations of dusT and PlaneTs (NOTT) instrument is the L'-band nulling interferometer of the Asgard instrument suite and will be the first nuller installed at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). Its main scientific goals are to characterise hot/warm exozodiacal dust and young Jupiter-like exoplanets at close (<10 AU) orbital separations, where indirect detection methods are most sensitive. NOTT uses a four-telescope integrated-optics photonic beam combiner operating over 3.5-4.0 micrometres. The photonic chip produces photometric, bright, and nulled outputs that are polarization-split, spectrally dispersed, and imaged onto a 5-micrometre-cutoff HAWAII-2RG detector by the NOTT cold nulling camera. The cold optical assembly includes the photonic-chip interface, injection optics, collimator, Wollaston prism, dispersive element, imager, and cryogenic detector stage. The mechanical implementation is designed for operation near 90 K using aluminium support structures, spring-loaded optical mounts, and cryogenic-compatible mechanisms to preserve alignment during cooldown. We present the current status and performance of the NOTT cold nulling camera and cryostat assembly. The system is undergoing assembly, integration, and verification to validate thermal stability, detector operation, vacuum performance, and opto-mechanical repeatability. Initial cryogenic tests have demonstrated operation near 100 K for the cold optics and 30 K for the detector, cryogenic validation of the filter wheel, and a vacuum pressure of 8 x 10^-8 mbar. These activities represent a key step toward deploying NOTT as the first nulling interferometer at the VLTI.
ER -