The PolyOculus technology produces large-area-equivalent telescopes by using fiber optics to link modules of multiple semi-autonomous, small, inexpensive, commercial-off-the-shelf telescopes. Crucially, this scalable design has construction costs which are > 10x lower than equivalent traditional large-area telescopes. We have developed a novel photonic lantern approach for the PolyOculus fiber optic linkages which potentially offers substantial advantages over previously considered free-space optical linkages, including much higher coupling efficiencies. We have carried out the first laboratory tests of a photonic lantern prototype developed for PolyOculus, and demonstrate broadband efficiencies of ~91%, confirming the outstanding performance of this technology.
@article{arxiv.2107.05721,
title = {Demonstration of high-efficiency photonic lantern couplers for PolyOculus},
author = {Christina D. Moraitis and Juan Carlos Alvarado-Zacarias and Rodrigo Amezcua-Correa and Sarik Jeram and Stephen S. Eikenberry},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2107.05721},
year = {2021}
}