Research Interests and Future Projects:

I specialize in near-IR and optical instrumentation, extra-solar planets, and adaptive optics. I was involved with developing new techniques for High Contrast Imaging using ground based Adaptive Optics (AO) and as well as high resolution spectroscopy in the near-IR/optical wavelengths at Pennsylvania State University (PSU) and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). At the Mt. Wilson Observatory (with the 100-inch Hooker telescope) I have developed a test-bed for diffraction limited coronagraph system that can be coupled with the UIUC AO system (UnISIS). The UnISIS is operational at the 100-inch Hooker Telescope. 

 

At PRL I am initiating a new program on detection of Extra-Solar Planets using the techniques of precision radial velocity measurements (spectroscopy). The precision radial velocity measurements of stars will be done with a fiber-fed echelle spectrograph at R~70,000 (from 3700A to 8200A). This will be the widest spectral coverage spectrograph with a precision of a few meters per sec being made. It will be housed inside an evacuated tank (~10-2 mbar) and under control environment at a room temperature of 27C +/-0.05C.

 

The Spectrograph will be coupled with the 1.2m Mt. Abu telescope and will be sensitive to the detection of Neptune size planets (~20Earth Mass) around G or K (Sun-like) stars of  visual brightness up to 10.0 magnitude with Radial Velocity (RV) precision of at least 4m/s. Our ultimate challenge will be to reach 3m/s RV precision on a 10th magnitude star with the 1m telescope which might take some time to achieve after the spectrograph sees the first light. The Spectrograph is expected to see the first light sometime in fall 2009.

(Updated Jan12, 2009)

 

 

Selected list of publications:

1) 10-7 contrast ratio at 4.5l/D: New results obtained in laboratory experiments using nano-fabricated coronagraph and multi-Gaussian shaped pupil masks. Abhijit Chakraborty, Laird A. Thompson, & Michael Rogosky, 2005, Optics Express, vol. 13, Issue 7, p.2394

 

 2) Evidence of Planetesimal Infall onto the Very Young Herbig Be Star LkHalpha 234. Abhijit Chakraborty, Jian Ge, & Suvrath Mahadevan, 2004, ApJLetters, 606, 69

 

3) Unveiling Su Aurigae in the near Infrared: New high spatial resolution results using Adaptive Optics. Abhijit Chakraborty & Jian Ge 2004, AJ, 127, 2898

 

4) First high Contrast Imaging using a Gaussian aperture pupil mask. J.H. Debes, J. Ge, A. Chakraborty, 2002, ApJLetters, 572L, 165. 

 

5) Progress with UnISIS:  a Rayleigh Laser Guided Adaptive Optics System.  2004.  L.A. Thompson, S.W. Teare, Y.-H. Xiong, A. Chakraborty, R. Gruendl, Proc. SPIE., 5490.

     

 6) Design and Performance of a Versatile Penn State near IR Imager and Spectrograph. Jian Ge, Abhijit Chakraborty, John Debes, Deqing Ren & Jerry Friedman, 2003, SPIE,      4841, 1503.

      

7)  Adaptive Optics High Resolution IR Spectroscopy with Silicon Grisms and Immersion Gratings. Jian Ge, Dan McDavitt, Abhijit Chakraborty, John Bernecker & Shane Miller 2003, SPIE, 4839