We present DARKNESS (the DARK-speckle Near-infrared Energy-resolving Superconducting Spectrophotometer), the first of several planned integral field spectrographs to use optical/near-infrared Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) for high-contrast imaging. The photon counting and simultaneous low-resolution spectroscopy provided by MKIDs will enable real-time speckle control techniques and post-processing speckle suppression at framerates capable of resolving the atmospheric speckles that currently limit high-contrast imaging from the ground. DARKNESS is now operational behind the PALM-3000 extreme adaptive optics system and the Stellar Double Coronagraph at Palomar Observatory. Here we describe the motivation, design, and characterization of the instrument, early on-sky results, and future prospects.
@article{arxiv.1803.10420,
title = {DARKNESS: A Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector Integral Field Spectrograph for High-Contrast Astronomy},
author = {Seth R. Meeker and Benjamin A. Mazin and Alex B. Walter and Paschal Strader and Neelay Fruitwala and Clint Bockstiegel and Paul Szypryt and Gerhard Ulbricht and Gregoire Coiffard and Bruce Bumble and Gustavo Cancelo and Ted Zmuda and Ken Treptow and Neal Wilcer and Giulia Collura and Rupert Dodkins and Isabel Lipartito and Nicholas Zobrist and Michael Bottom and J. Chris Shelton and Dimitri Mawet and Julian C. van Eyken and Gautam Vasisht and Eugene Serabyn},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1803.10420},
year = {2018}
}